Nest

I was invited to read this middle-grade book by NetGalley and Random House Children. 

First of all I didn't read anything about this book before I started reading it. I went in "blind" and I'm so glad I did. Nest is a surprising story of a family and the way that each one in the family unit deals with tragedy.

There is a little bit for everyone. 

It's a sister story. Two sisters who love each other and cope with a difficult situation in very different ways. 

It's a mother-daughter story. The love between a mother and a daughter is strong and its hard to understand that bond but when it is broken all bets are off and everything can shatter. 

It's a father-daughter story. Dad's aren't the same as mom's but that doesn't mean they don't love their daughters any less and you can definitely feel the pull this dad has on his daughters. The love they share for their father even though they don't always say it.

It's a illness story (mental and physical). This story talks about how a family copes with illness. How the person with the illness deals with the knowledge. How everyone comes together or breaks apart in time of tragedy.

It's a growing up story.  A learning through hard-times, finding your way story. A spark of love and friendship story. A bonding over difficulties and hardships and leaning on someone that understands story.

It's an awesome story that deserves to be read. A story set in 1972 off the coast of Cape Cod to a Jewish family in a Christian town story. 

It's a must read debut story.

August Wrap-Up

August Wrap-Up

Read / Started

Well, August started off great. I joined in on the #AYEARATHON read-a-thon on goodreads 

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/123987-ayearathon. I read 8 books. The theme was middle grade. I really had a lot of fun reading that week.

I read:

A Wrinkle In Time the graphic novel by Madeline L'Engle , adapted by Hope Larson 

     I really enjoyed this book it was kind of like Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. There was the concept of religion, also overcoming all odds and teaching love and understanding.

Sever this was the third and final book in The Chemical Garden trilogy by Lauren DeStefano. Crazy series you can find my review here on my blog.

'The Series of Unfortunate Events' Books 1-4 by Lemony Snickett

The Bad Beginning

The Reptile Room

The Wide Window

The Miserable Mill

I really liked The Wide Window the best out of the four and the least favorite was Miserable Mill. These books if you don't know about them are written pretty drearily. Three orphans must continue to try and outsmart a relation who is quite a madman. Count Olaf finds out in book 1 that the kids are loaded and spends, I'm pretty sure, the entire series trying to figure out ways in order to off the children and get a hand on their fortune. I am enjoying it so far.

Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimblewitch a gorgeous graphic novel by Eric Orchard.

This is his first graphic novel and the illustrations are marvelous. You can find this review here. I did receive this for free from NetGalley.com Release date 9-30-14

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm. This too is a free book from NetGalley.com. You can find the review for this book here as well.

I started:

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Velante this is the first book in a trilogy which I own all of the books. I am enjoying this book. I am 36% in so far. It is very, very whimsical so it takes awhile to get used to the flow.

The second week of August I read two eARC's both free from NetGalley

I read:

Amity by Micol Ostow. I have the review for this book here on my blog. I gave it 3 out of 5 ravens because it was kind of confusing. It is a re-telling of Amityville House.

Of Monsters and Men by Jessica Verday. I really, really liked this one. It has Edgar Allen Poe, a great twist and Annabelle Lenore Lee as the "love interest" This isn't a true re-telling but it does have bits and pieces of Edgar's poems and stories through out the book. You can find the review here.

The third week of August was Bout of Books 11.0 and unfortunately I only got through graphic novels this week. I was so burnt out from all the reading I had been doing and starting back up at work that I just couldn't finish any of the books I started.

I read:

In Real Life a graphic novel by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang. This was free from First, Second Publishing and I want to say thank you to Gina for sending it. I quite enjoyed this story about a girl who learns that an MMO can help build self-esteem but it also teaches us lessons on other countries and their work ethic. The author said it was an economics story. I am a World of Warcraft player so I was a little biased ;)

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki is a graphic novel that I borrowed from the library. I did enjoy the illustrations a lot but the story fell kind of flat for me. It's a coming of age story about two girls on a summer vacation. I gave it 3 out of 5 ravens.

Saga: Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. This graphic novel I borrowed from the library and is supppper hyped-up on the blogosphere. It is all true... this is an amazing ADULT graphic novel. It does have boobies and a bit of naked time so be wary on that one. Gorgeous illustrations and I'm so digging the plot. It's about two races (Horns and Wings) they have been battling for FOREVER and at a prisoner camp the guard and her detainee fall in love, make a baby, and are on the run from both sides. Oops! Love is the root of all evil? Or in this case, Love is a battlefield.

Orphan Blade by M. Nicolas Almand and Jake Myler. This was another free graphic novel eARC from NetGalley. Release date 12-3-14. This is about an orphan (Hidashi) who gets kicked out of his dojo and finds friends and a sword. This sword just so happens to be "magic" and helps Hidashi fight off a bunch of bad guys. The ending felt very rushed. I did however, love the illustrations. 

Amulet: Vol 5 and Vol 6. by Kazu Kibuishi. I have been reading this graphic novel series since January. The first 5 volumes I borrowed from the library. NetGalley just so happened to have the 6th book in the series for free and so I requested it. Vol 6 was only finished up until page 53 I believe and then the rest was in rough draft. No color but the illustrations were still amazing. I loooove this graphic novel series. It's about two kids Emily and Navin who are on a quest to help save a world that their grandpa was involved in. Emily is a stone-keeper which she was bequeathed this role from her grandfather. After his death she was "THE ONE" to have to save this unknown world from the evil elves! Really great I would definitely check it out if you haven't yet. 

I started:

I started a lot of books with good intentions. I really was going to read them all but like I said before I was running low on reading fuel and gave up. I am hoping September is better for me.

Fiendish by Breanna Yovanoff is a new stand alone that came out this month. So far sadly I'm only 10% in. I was trying to read this book the same week I was reading Of Monsters and Men and Amity. All three are creepy books. This book I won from Goodreads sometime in June I believe. So far it seems really interesting about curses and voodoo and witches.

Red Glove  by Holly Black. There is something about this book that I just can not get into. I have borrowed this book from the library 6 times already and I still haven't read it. I've had it the entire summer and I've only gotten 36% done. I have really bad luck with sequels and this is the sequel to White Cat the Curse Workers trilogy.

The Edge of the Water by Elizabeth George. This is the sequel to 'The Edge of Nowhere' and this is the Saratoga Woods trilogy. I do like this book so far, I'm 18% in so far. It's about a girl who moves to a small island outside of Seattle to hide from her step-dad who she believes is a murderer. It's a mysterous paranormal book and I can't wait to continue. I also borrowed this from the library.

The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer. I own this book and its about 5 sisters and I think a pedophile. I'm only 8% in and it is hard to read because there are so many points of view. The creepy guy and the sisters have their own dialogue. I wish the whole book was in the man's perspective only because I can read his voice better. Reading children speak is so slow and annoying. I have a 7 and 9 year old and they could drag a story out for days with their um's and uhhh I forgot what I was going to say moments.

That was my wrap-up. #16 books total read and 5 books started but didn't finish YET!

Day 2

Bout of Books 11.0

-Day 2-

I finished two graphic novels on day 2 of Bout of Books. This is pretty depressing. I'm used to reading a lot more than I have been but ugh I'm in a slight reading slump. 

Saga: Vol 1 has been hyped up big time for the past few months. Everyone in the booktube worlds has read and reviewed these graphic novels. All anyone can say it this shit is amazing. So of course I had to request it from my library. I waited a good two months for this bad boy and it was definitely worth the wait.

Alana and Marko are from two different species/factions, called (the wings and the horns). They have been mercilessly fighting each other for generations. Like Romeo and Juliet it is unheard of to love, let alone marry the enemy and this is exactly what these to characters do. Oh yeah and they have a baby (Hazel). 

The whole story is about their escape from the planet Cleave and what happens next. I am so excited to get Vol 2. Definitely check this graphic novel out if you are old enough because this bad boy is M for mature and there are boobies in it ;)

This One Summer is a coming of age, teen graphic novel about two middle school girls at their summer vacation. Rose has been visiting Awago Beach since she was 5 years old and has been friends with Windy for just as long. Windy is the kid that stays in the cottage next door. The first half of the story is about the girls typical daily life and what little girls do and talk about, then they meet Dunc a 16-18 year old boy that works the local market. He and his buddies are pretty loud and rowdy and talk about "grown up" things like getting his girlfriend pregnant and that is when the story changes.

I gave this graphic novel a 3 because it was a bit depressing and I just didn't feel invested in the characters. If you like illustrations I would definitely check this graphic novel out for the pictures alone. The story like I said is just okay.

Day 1

Bout of Books 11.0

-Day 1-

(I know 1 measly graphic novel for the whole day??? #don'tjudgeme)

This was a super amazing graphic novel. 1 part realistic fiction, 1 part behavioral economics lesson.

I am a 7 year, World of Warcraft player. My main toon is Rubymyst-Grizzly Hills ;) I'm a mage and I'm awesome. Okay, enough of that. I wanted to pick up this book because it talks about gold farming and I know a few tidbits about gold farming. It ended with me getting my computer hacked and my stuff stolen and sold.

I didn't think this book was going to make me so angry and sad for gold farmers. I mean I have watched the documentaries about poor Chinese kids farming gold for HOURS, but still leave me the eff alone!

Anyways. I will be doing a full wrap-up of this book on my youtube channel at the end of the week. If you want to read my full review just click here.

Home

Welcome to Bingereader

Hi I am a new book-blogger. I've been making videos on Youtube and blogging my life of books for the last 6 months. I am still learning and hope to be able to share with you my favorite books.

I tend to read and buy mostly YA horror and paranormal. I do however read other genre's too. Check out my reading history page above for more information. 

I have listed my book reviews, read-a-thons and book looks above. I love fashion and love to create looks around book covers I love or book characters I adore. 

I participate in as many read-a-thons as possible because the more books read the better. If you know of a read-a-thon coming up let me know down in the comments I would love to add new read-a-thons to the ones I am already participating. This blog is brand new so if you are interested in the read-a-thons I have already done in the past check out my youtube channel. Here are the read-a-thons I usually participate in. If you are interested in any of them please join by clicking on the links below.

#AYEARATHON read-a-thon (goodreads) 

Under-hyped read-a-thon (goodreads)

BookTubeAThon (youtube)

Bout of Books (blogspot)

For reviews and my policy and reviewing books click on the policy link. That tab will tell you what genre's I am interested in reading.

Thanks for stopping by.

Most Anticipated Books (August and September)

There are a lot of new releases this year that I am dying to get my hands on. I'll post the book cover by release date.

August 5, 2014

August 7, 2014

August 14, 2014

August 26, 2014

Of Monsters and Madness

Of Monsters and Madness

-By: Jessica Verday-

It was a many and many a year ago, 

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabell Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

 Then to love and be loved by me.

Annabell Lenore Lee, moves to Philadelphia from Siam (Thailand) shortly after the death of her mother. This is the first time she has been to the United States or has seen her father. She is not used to customs in America and finds herself shamed for her heathen and uncivilized ways. 

Annabell's first day is rough. She is pushed into a river, finds out a murderer is on the loose and when she finally meets her father for the first time she soon learns that he is an angry bitter man. All she has in this new life is her dress maiden, Maddy and her beloved grandpere.

As Annabell become acquainted with her new life, she learns there are many secrets that lurk in her house. As she is highly curious in nature she makes it her mission to uncover the truth. But are these truths really what she wants?

Jessica Verday paints a beautiful but tragic gothic love story between a girl and her misunderstood writer. 

Edgar Allen Poe is my favorite classic author. I squealed with delight when I came upon a line or two from his works. Just being able to distinguish the story it is from just by a few lines put a smile on my face. I also loved being able to read about these two characters, Annabell and Edgar. I always wondered about their love. If it was fiction for a poem or if Poe really knew and loved a girl by the name of Annabell Lee.

This is a gorgeous Gothic horror novel even more so because of the ever amazing Edgar Allen Poe.

P.S. oohhh the twist is worth the read :)

Thank you Egmont and NetGalley for this free eARC

Amity

Amity

-Micol Ostow-

3:14 is the time the dead wakes. Gunshots, pounding, a boathouse door swings open and closed. Bang, bang, BANG! "She was shot in the HEAD!!" Whispers a red room. Scraping, white legs, empty eyes...SCREAMING!!!!

Conner Webb moves to Amity with his family. Dad, mom, twin sister Jules, their dog Murray and 6 year old brother Abel. Day one is weird. It only went down hill from there. After a few weeks reality because skewed. Nightmares/Dreams/premonitions start happening and Conner finds he is welcoming these nighttime offerings with open arms. He craves the power the house is trying to pass on.

"Curiosity killed the cat"

Gwen Hall moves to Amity 10 years later with her family. Dad, mom, Irish twin brother Luke. She is there to start over. People think she's crazy. Is she crazy? She feels the house around her. She knows it is watching. Her aunt Ro senses it too. Neither can do anything about it. Not yet.

The house..."its more than, beams, blueprints, boards and bolts"

It's alive and it wants you...always! 

I liked this book over all. It was creepy and suspenseful, but it was confusing at times. I admit the entirety of Part III was a jumble to me. I couldn't tell if it was a premonition or a dream. Very confusing. Also the convenience of Gwen's power seemed to easy. Amity didn't allow the dwellers to hang paintings, light bulbs didn't last long, the stove was unreliable and yet. Gwen does something to the house at the end. Which seems illogical. If the inside can not be penetrated how can the outside? Especially if Amity had power through out the house and surrounding land.

Regardless of my confusion, the book itself is an easy read, pretty fast paced and I loved the echo effect of the intense scenes. Micol repeated certain scary parts over and over which kept the feeling of dread going. My favorite line, "Go, away.CRAZY"

*I want to thank Egmont USA and NetGalley for the free eARC* 

Read-a-thons

Bout of Books 11.0 read-a-thon TBR

http://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/

-This is what Bout of Books is about (taken from the website)-

The Bout of Books Read-a-Thon was created by Amanda @ On a Book Bender on a complete whim in August 2011*. It took on a life of its own and was such a hit that Amanda decided to do it again and turn it into a somewhat regular occurrence.

• Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, usually from 12:01am on a Monday through 11:59pm on a Sunday in whatever time zone you are in.
• It is low pressure, meaning participants are only asked to push themselves to read more than they normally would during any given week. There is no competition between readers.
• How much time a reader wants, and can commit, to read, tweet, or network with fellow bloggers is left to individual preference. All challenges and giveaways are optional.
• Networking with fellow bloggers is actively encouraged, though never required.
• Use Twitter to post updates throughout the read-a-thon. Everyone will be tweeting with the #boutofbooks hashtag.

I'm really hoping I can get through all of these books. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 This is tentative. I might add more on or take something off. Happy Reading everyone!! Good luck if you are participating!

The Fourteenth Goldfish

The Fourteenth Goldfish

-Jennifer Holm-

I received this eARC by Random House Children's through NetGalley. This is a middle-grade book, due to be released August 26, 2014

Let me start by saying I loved this book. From the cover, you can see a cute goldfish in a test tube. I was thinking, "Oh, a book about a goldfish. Maybe it will be like a Nemo book or something, were the protagonist is a fish and has an adventure." I tend to only read enough about a synopsis to know whether the book is in a genre I like. I like to go into books unawares of the situation.

I was pleasantly surprised this book had little to do with goldfish, and more about Science, family and future discoveries.

Jennifer did an amazing job weaving interesting details about great inventors, scientists and doctors through out this fictional story that made it even more memorable then weighed down by facts. 

This story starts off with a dead goldfish. The thirteenth goldfish to be exact. The goldfish is a metaphor for the cycle of life. Ellie the 12 year old protagonist in this story learns that her mom has been replacing Goldie, for the last 5 years with out Ellie knowing it. 

This quote from the book sums up the story, "Life is precious and we don't realize that at the time. But maybe life's also precious because it doesn't last forever".

Ellie learns that her grandfather may have found "the elixir of life" Through out the book, her grandfather convinces her that science is about the "possible" and that scientists are a stubborn bunch and that they never give up. When it comes time to patent grandpa Melvin's discovery, Ellie starts having second thoughts. She researches Oppenheimer "the father of the atomic bomb" yes his invention helped stop World War II, but what about the aftermath of that event? What about all the thousands of children that died because of the bomb. Ellie also researches Marie Curie, yes this famous physicist discovered radioactivity, but what was the aftermath? Marie Curie died from radiation poisoning. 

Just because something you invent or discover is amazing or cool or ingenious, doesn't mean it is good for people.

Jennifer quotes Jonas Salk in the book "Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors"

This book was heavy on family, science and the responsibility of our future and I really enjoyed it.

Maddie Kettle

          

Maddie Kettle
The Adventure of the Thimblewitch

-by Eric Orchard-

I downloaded this children's graphic novel from NetGalley.com 

This was honestly the most gorgeous graphic novel I have ever seen. I love anything whimsical and the style of illustration that the author, Eric Orchard did was magnificent. Eric Orchard is an award-winning Canadian Illustrator and Cartoonist and 'Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimblewitch is his debut graphic novel.

http://www.ericorchard.com/contact/

Now on to the review. This graphic novel is only 96 pages. I was sad when it ended I wanted more. The illustrations are what got me right off the bat. I saw the cover and thought 'YES I MUST READ THIS'. I was so excited when I clicked on the book cover and it said READ NOW! On NetGalley, this means you can download it immediately to your computer. I gushed about the illustrations now I'm going to gush about the font and size and the illustrations again. Everything is perfect. Easy to read for children. Nice big fat words. All the characters are loveable and fantastical because the characters are animals and they talk.

Maddie the main character lives with her mom and dad. They own a bookstore (the best job in the world) and one night while everyone slept, the Thimblewitch came into their home and transformed Maddie's parents into rats. This is an adventure tale. Maddie must go on a quest to help her parents. She meets some amazing characters along the way and finds out, that there has been a big misunderstanding. 

Such a great book that I will definitely read to my kids over and over. Not only for the cute story but just to stare and get lost in the drawings :)

                                            

            

The Chemical Garden Trilogy

The Chemical Garden Trilogy

-by: Lauren DeStefano-

The books that make up the trilogy are: Wither, Fever, and Sever. This is a Sci-Fi Dystopian series that does not stop. I do own the first book in the series and borrowed the other two from my local library.

Let me start off with the covers of the books. All three books contain a girl on the cover surrounded by props that represent the book. It is genius if you ask me. I love that you get little hints about what transpires through out the books just by glancing at the covers. There are also "main" hints about the plot circled on the cover's like a treasure map with an "X" marks the spot. 

Rhine is a twin. She lives in Manhattan with her brother Rowan and they are trying to survive. Their parents are dead. An explosion killed them. In this world there is an age limit. Girls live to be 20 and boys die at 25. There is no cure for this genetic defect. Although some scientists work relentlessly to find a cure, there is no hope that they will ever succeed. In this world because of the young mortality rate, girls procreate at a much earlier age then is tolerable in our present time. There are bands of "thieves" that snatch up girls called the Gatherer's. These men will sell off the girls to red light districts or to wealthy men-boys to become wives. Rhine unfortunately becomes one of these girls that have been "gathered" she fears for her life. What will become of her brother and how will she find her way back home.

This series was very dark. Not only are little girls, 12 years of age, being married off and expected to continue to populate this cesspool of a society. They are also expendable. All girls are either prisoners of their husbands or the prostitute camps. If a girl is lucky to still have family to protect her then she is a prisoner of her home because being out on the streets unprotected is a dangerous idea.

Each book kept me interested. Fast paced and easy to read. Rhine is trapped till the very end and all you want for her is to find her brother. There is a very good villain in this series and he is not only cruel but frighting. The third book was slightly depressing and I was shocked at what happens toward the end. There are definite twists that you don't expect.

I gave each book 4 stars on goodreads.