Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast



Welcome back to the House of Night series, children. I know you're excited to return to vamp school but first, let's review what we've learned about the House of Night series thus far:

1. The House of Night is a boarding school for fledgling vampires, who apparently need the supervision and influence of older vampires in order for them to make the transition into full vampires or they die horribly EXCEPT THEY DON'T DIE. Yeah.
2. Vampire customs and beliefs follow a hodge-podge of matriarchal, pagan, greekish, Lori Cabot-esque philosophy that doesn't really make any sense, but would still be rather quaint if it wasn't taken directly from "The Be Like The Girls in the Craft Handbook 101", or if it was in anyway consistent and didn't butcher a plethora of folklore.
3. Panders to every conceivable stereotype in a shameless attempt to suck in readers. (Kudos to your PR people) For instance, the fact that Damien's homosexuality is mentioned EVERY time he appears on page and we get that your book is multi-racial and I'm so glad you have to keep telling us that some of your characters hail from different backgrounds.
4. Zoey (Lady of the Night really does mean whore) Redbird is everything we hope our daughters won't be and please don't strive to be like her.
5. Is correct in it's portrayal of teenage boys being only sex driven hot heads.
6. Is written on a third grade reading level.

Chapters 1-447 (Seems like every five pages we got a new chapter) or up to 55% of the book:
Stevie Rae and the Bird Man (playing at a club near you)


Zoey and Co. have scared off Nefret and Kalona, they are all living in a nunnery, and Stevie Rae saves a Raven Mocker (nasty half bird man created when Kalona raped Cherokee women. Seriously. Pull something else out of your ass). Zoey fights with all three of her boyfriends. Skip forward to just over halfway through the book because that's the next time anything actually happens.

Chapter 447-963: When the World is Crap and Evil Beings Want to Kill You Go Back to School


They return to the House of Night, I forget why. Probably so that they are around adult vamps who keep them from "dying" and turning into blood thirsty monsters that can't go out in the daylight.....wait....I...thought...that's...what...vampires...did...?

Chapter 963-1452: We Couldn't Come Up With Anything Original So We Wrote This


Now they are traveling to Italy to meet with the Voltur- er wait, that's another book isn't it? Let me reread- nope, they are indeed traveling to Italy to meet with the vampire council. *cough* Twilightbandwagonfamewhores *cough*

The Last, Er, Roughly, 6 Pages


In which everything gets REALLY good! I want to know what happens next! Is it wrong that I think Kalona is AWESOME? Can you BELIEVE what just happened!? When do we get another one?

Yes, this is book abuse at it's finest right here and I know some people think the sun shines out of Team Cast's a...there, I was good, but there isn't anything even remotely intelligent about this book, the series, the story, the concept. That said, even given my animosity towards the writers and the series, I keep reading because there is just something about the series that makes me want to see it through. I'm giving this book 3 stars, it may be crap, but it's consistently crappy which takes real initiative. Not only that you couldn't write anything worse and still have it be SO VERY entertaining and that's real skill, and well...it has a fabulous cliff-hanger ending.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Congratulations Parents! It's a....BOOK!



Kris from The Cajun Book Lady is the first person to adopt an unloved book from our shelter!

Suzanne at Chicks with Books has also chosen to open her home to a needy book.

Thank you to everyone who supported the No Kill Book Shelter and for doing your part to stop book abuse!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The No Kill Book Shelter



The No Kill Book Shelter will be accepting applications until tonight at 11:59 pm CST. The families chosen will be notified Wednesday, December 9th. Please take a moment to fill out an application and open your home to an unloved book. Bring an abused book home for the holidays!

Click here to adopt a bouncing baby book!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The No Kill Book Shelter Opens Today!


The No Kill Book Shelter for Books I Didn't Like


Just because one person didn't appreciate a book doesn't mean that someone else won't absolutely love it. The books you'll find here in the shelter have been badly neglected and unloved. In some instances they've even been verbally abused. Book violence is a very serious issue, one that we should all do our part to remedy. Support your local No Kill Book Shelter and give a bad book a second chance.

Books currently living in the shelter:



The adoption process is as follows:

1. Submit an application for adoption by leaving a comment on this post that includes: Your name, email address and blog site. This condition is not negotiable. You must have a valid website address in order to insure that our adoptees are given a good home. This step will award you 1 adoption point. (+1)
2. Support your local No Kill Book Shelter by posting about this adoption on your website. This entitles you to another adoption point. (+1)
3. The adoption agency would like to know under what living conditions the adoptee will reside. Describe the bed (or shelf) that you plan to give to your new bouncing baby book. One adoption point(+1)

Two responsible, caring, screened families will be chosen and eligible to adopt the unloved book of their choice. First winner picks first....duh...and so on. Deadline for application is December 8th and I will announce winners on the 9th so not much time!

Books are available for adoption in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico (I did that just for you) only. Not that I don't think they wouldn't be perfectly happy in France or Zimbabwe, but I just bought a house and I'm broke :)

In case you're wondering or yelling at the screen, why only blog/web sites can enter- the purpose of this, not just the give away but the all encompassing "this" is books, and sharing what we think about the books we've read. If you are a book blogger and you win a contest there is more of a chance that you'll post your own book thoughts and thus the circle of book life goes on. It's rather anti-climatic if the book is won and we never get to hear anything about it again.

If you do not want to post your email in comments, you may tell me privately at lifeafterjane@gmail.com.

Edit: In all fairness I have to say The Crimson Petal and the White is complete and utter crap and you shouldn't feel too bad if you adopt it and end up hating it too.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Bookwork 11/22-11/28



Explain to me why I keep buying books when I currently don't have any time to read them?

Was digging through the bargain books at Books-a-Million when I came across:

1. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
2. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
3. The Wide Window: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Which brings my To-Read total up to 42 on the shelf, 3 currently reading and 9 on the Kindle. 49 books to read, that I own. Yeah. I need an intervention

How about you? What's your total?

Sunday, November 22, 2009

2010 Reading Challenges

Yay! They're here! Regardless of the fact that I failed miserably in 2009 (although there is still time), I'm planning on jumping right back in there and taking a crack at the following:


Hosted by MizB at MizB's Reading Challenges

The Rules:

•Pick a number of books you’d like to read in one year
•Choose those books from your OWN collection
•Read them between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010
And, that’s it!

Some other guidelines for this challenge:

•Re-Reads are NOT allowed (the challenge is to get more of your own books read that have been sitting there waiting!)
•Audiobooks & e-books ARE allowed
•You do NOT need a blog to participate — you can leave comments on this post with your progress


Sign up begins January 1st.



Hosted by the lovely J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog

The 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.
--Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.
--Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.
--Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

(Aim high. As long as you read 25 by the end of 2010, you are a winner.)

3. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Young Reader – any book as long as it is checked out from the library count. Checked out like with a library card, not purchased at a library sale.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

6. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.

Sign up!

Friday, November 20, 2009

It's 3:00 in the morning....and at 3 in the morning we tell the truth

After 2 hours and 15 minutes of watching a dangerously hot Jacob parade around half naked, inspiring some lusty thoughts that you know your old ass shouldn't be havin' for a minor.....did we really care when a stick thin Edward flashed his puny air-brushed abs? Or did you really just want to feed him a sandwich and go back to looking at Jacob?