Sequels that drive you crazy and not in a good way

First off I just want to apologize for not getting a post out for so long. As Ashley said Mondays had become pretty much impossible for me as I never seemed to be anywhere near my keyboard! Life's been pretty busy for me again of late with a possible job opportunity and a new relationship. Therefore I have had much less reading time than I would like.

However what I am currently reading is a sequel, and it is driving me crazy. So this post is a rant to those sequels that annoy the daylights out of you. I'm sure you know the type, the first book is fantastic or at least really enjoyable and then the second one... it feels like a different series altogether! The characters you have come to love are now just irritating.

The book that has me feeling this way right now is That Wedding by Jillian Dodd. The first book, That Boy, I really enjoyed. I liked the main character JJ, she was a girl who went after what she wanted, played sports with the boys and enjoyed life to the fullest. Then we get her in the sequel and she is nothing but a whiny brat who has to get her way in everything and cannot deal with any type of conflict. She must be right about everything and win every fight or the person she is arguing with is stupid. I realize the author had to do something to make the book interesting, but this was not it! I am finding it difficult to read more than a chapter or two at a time and the chapters are really short.

I know there have been more of these than just this but I can't seem to think of them right now. So what about you, what is a sequel you wish had been done differently or maybe never even written at all?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

As part of this weekly meme, Shiela at Book Journey encourages others to visit participating memes, by offering a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling her how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments.  Just make sure to post on her blog and tell her how many in the comment area.

She offers a $5 Amazon gift card to the weeks winner.

Hi all! Ashley, here.  In the past this has been Britt's slot, but life tends to happen a little bit harder to her on Mondays than it does the rest of the week... go figure... I'm pretty sure most of us can relate to that.  So, I'm trading spots with her! She'll now be posting on Thursdays.  Make sure to check her out in her new time slot later in the week... in the mean time, I'm starting my inaugural Monday with a meme... yeah, yeah... I wanted to do something extra special too, but I've been on vacation for the past 11 days and didn't get in until after midnight last night.

Just this morning, I started Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, Book 7) by Patricia Briggs on my drive in.  No worries, as bad a driver as I am, I'm not making it worse by ACTUALLY reading during the drive.  Instead, I'm listening to the audio version of the book via audible.  The narrator is Lorelei King.  I'm not certain whether she has narrated the other Mercy books as I have actually read all of those, but so far I'm enjoying her narration of this installment.

In addition to Frost Burned, I'm also picking at Destroy Me (Shatter Me 1.5) by Tahereh Mafi. It's a novella and I don't have a very good excuse for not having finished it yet.  The major reason is that I don't have much time for independent reading of actual text right now. My social calendar has been wild of late, but that may have to change due to financial considerations in the near future, so maybe I'll get some additional reading done.

Finally, I'm also reading Outlander (Outlander 1) by Diana Gabaldon with my bestie Jessa via skype sessions.  This is a new experience, but one I'm really enjoying.  Most of us have buddy read books before and I'm sure ALL of you fellow parents out there, especially those of you that bother to frequent blogs about books, read to your kids.  This is like that only combined.  Jessa and I are buddy reading the book to each other and O... M... G.... it is such a fun thing to do. We don't always get very far in the book, but oh the conversations that the readings spawn!

She loves it when I try to read in a Scottish accent and I love her running commentary on the events of the book (for her, this is a re-read of her favorite book and let me tell you, girl, you should see the light in her eyes when she reads about Jamie!). If you ever get a chance to read a book like this with one of us, I highly suggest you take it because we are soooooo funny.  Seriously, grab a friend and try some skype reading of your own... it's a great experience!

Monday Madness

I am starting to think my sanity is leaving me.

My microwave has a help button... not quite sure what it could actually help with. I am tempted to push it to see if it will clean my house.  Perhaps that is where the cleaning elves have been hiding.  Even the sock elves have taken a vacation, I have found all my sock pairs in the last two weeks. 

Perhaps its the garden gnomes we put in our house plants, they must be the trick to getting the elves to behave, I will wait one more day to see if the cleaning elves fall in line. 

I have been babysitting for my neighbors while one of them is in Jamaica with her friend and the husband is at work.  So I have four kids under the age of 6 for three days this week, and three of them for the other day left this week.  

Last week I had them painting a huge piece of white paper, surprisingly all but a few fingerprints of paint made it onto the paper.  We also made chocolate raspberry cupcakes and managed to completely destroy my house. 

This week, I am spending the week cleaning and reorganizing. I am hosting a baby shower at my house on Sunday, so I also have to make food, and did I mention the four under 6 children I am watching? Yeah this will be fun. 

I am hoping those cleaning elves come visit every night after my kids go to bed, I wouldnt even mind if they made the beds with the kids in them. It would save time really.  

Next week, I am started to scrape all the texture off the walls in my family room so we can repaint it.  

And I want a puppy.  And a purple unicorn.  

My daughter can spell her name, she is two. I am impressed.  My son can add double digit equations.  He is five. Again, I am impressed. 

I have to paint my house this spring. I have never painted the outside of a house, it should be fun, right?

Every night before bed I talk to a fictitious character from the series I am writing, he tells me what to write the next day.  He does not like to be ignored either, when I ignore him, he invades my dreams and makes me dream weird things like mac and cheese houses and alien invasions... I also had a zombie apocalypse dream the other night.

So, after all this rambling, I am still pretty sure I am going crazy.

Hope your Monday isn't so mad.

Maybe I should start wearing hats.

~M~

Feature & Follow Friday

Q: Activity! Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon…so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture.

Good question! Since I just moved last year, I haven't quite discovered my favorite outdoor reading spot at my new house! But I planned to do that just this weekend since it's going to be 75 where I live :D 

However, at my parents house I always loved to sit under our big willow tree in the front yard with a blanket. I also had a tree house in it, but eventually it was too old for me to climb into and read.

What about yours?!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In honor of the one day of the year -- this Sunday -- when everyone is Irish, I present you with a collection of many things Irish:

The song "Irish Rover," performed here by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

A cross-world fantasy trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay -- it's awesome and you should read it

Plus, here are some more Ireland-themed books if you're interested

A little bit of Irish step dance

A curse to use on the next person who pisses you off

May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the Hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.

And in parting, a St. Patrick's Day blessing

May the Irish hills caress you.

May her lakes and rivers bless you.

May the luck of the Irish enfold you.

May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

Mmm... Brains...

Let's play a game. I'm going to say a word and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? Here it is...

ZOMBIES

I would hazard a guess that a lot of you immediately thought of this...

The truth is, zombies are mainstream cool now, thanks to The Walking Dead. Because of that, I've been seeing more and more zombie books popping up. But, to be honest, The Walking Dead has sort of ruined me for all other brain-eaters. I have a hard time reconciling the nasty, decomposing, gooey "Geeks" with any sort of love interest in a book. All I can think of is, "eeeewwwwww...."

But, I'm proud to say that this week I started my very first zombie book:

 

I know it's a bit of a cop-out, what with the movie and all. Baby steps, y'all. I'm ready to overcome my preconceived notions and give the living dead a try. 

So, let's hear from you. Have you read any good zombie books lately? What are your favorites? 

And, just cause this is my post and I can do what I want, here's one of my favorite pics from The Walking Dead. 

Oh. Yeah.

 

Guess How I Died Winner

Two weeks ago I posted about Pas De Death by Amanda Brice and asked you to guess how I die in the book. Well the contest is over and we have a winner.

Congrats to Wendy @ Wall-to-Wall Books!!

I also wanted to share my favorite entry because it made me equally amused and scared when I read it, haha.

Julie @ Bookaroo-Ju said...

"You slip on a blob of ice cream that someone has spilled on the floor of the local ice cream 

parlour and land with your eye impaled on a rather rigid waffle cone."

- - - - -

Pas De Death (Dani Spevak #3) by Amanda Brice
Releases March 22nd!! 

Goodreads Summary:

Aspiring ballerina Dani Spevak is back home in New Jersey for the summer. What was supposed to be a simple day trip into New York City to visit her friends at the Manhattan Ballet Conservatory turns deadly when Dani discovers that the world of professional ballet can be cutthroat - literally.

READ CHAPTER 1 OF PAS DE DEATH HERE!!

Book Links:

Codename: Dancer (Dani Spevak Mystery #1) on Goodreads, Amazon, & Barnes and Noble
Pointe of No Return (Dani Spevak Mystery #2) on Goodreads, Amazon, & Barnes and Noble

Pas De Death (Dani Spevak Mystery #3) on Goodreads

Author Links:

Amanda Brice's Website

Amanda Brice on Goodreads

Thanks for reading!

GReep Jen