2014 Pure Textuality Convention

So you know how I said I want to make friends with my fellow bloggers and readers out there?  Well, I'll be attending my first book convention next year, and I'm a little excited.  I'm looking forward to meeting lots of authors, bloggers, and book-lovers.  Will you be going?

And guess what?  I'll be doing a giveaway this Friday for a pair of tickets to the convention.  So if you want to attend for free, don't forget to check back here on Friday to enter the giveaway.

So where will you be on October 2, 3, 4, and 5 next year?  I'll be in Minneapolis...

Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Soul Screamers Series, Book 6

Rachel Vincent's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Note:  If you haven't read the books in this series, the below information screams major spoiler alerts to earlier books...

Description (taken from Rachel Vincent's website):

I died on a Thursday—killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul. The good news? He didn't get it. The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school…

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent "recovering," she's back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend.

But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won't keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn't just gambling with her own life….

I just feel like this one didn't have enough "oomph" for me.  It was great and held a lot of Soul Screamer worthy potential.  But it seems like it's the big breath before the finale.  We're preparing you for something big.  And after having just read something else that felt this way, I'm ready for the main action.

Kaylee has come back to the world of the living.  But she's not alive.  And she finds that is something that's really hard to deal with.  Fortunately, she's got Tod helping her through this.  The gorgeous Tod.  And we also see the same characters from previous books.  And what's awesome about this series is we see Kaylee's mistakes carry through.  There's no instant fix to the people in this world.  We see them bear their battle wounds and try to heal.

Back to the hellions.  They do something kind of weird in this book.  And I feel like there wasn't enough explanation for this.  And it seemed like a door was left opened at the end in preparation for the final book.  Maybe I just need to start skipping middle books (or the ones that prepare you for the finale).

I love this series.  And I need to see how it ends.  Hopefully it's epic.  (I just hate how we watched Kaylee lose a little bit of her humanity when she died.)

Challenges:  Paranormal Reading Challenge

Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Genre:  YA Paranormal Romance

The Sweet Trilogy, Book 2

Wendy Higgins' website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

What is it about English accents that make girls swoon?  I mean, it's not just hearing them, imagining them still makes you swoon.  Reading about a hot guy in a book who has an English accent makes him ten times hotter.  Why is that?  I don't know if I'll ever know.  But when I go to England one day, I'm bringing a tape recorder with me.

What does the above have to do with this book?  Kaidan has an English accent, and I'm giving you my reasoning as to why he's hot (yes, I'm shallow).  The second half of this book was much more enjoyable than the first half because it had more Kaidan instead of just fleeting glimpses of him.

Anna, who's been surviving under the dukes' radar by partying a lot, gets an unexpected visit from someone.  And with this visit comes hope that not everything is doomed.  Anna has to find as many allies among the Nephilim as she can before all Hell breaks loose.  Along the way, we'll learn more about Kope, new characters that get introduced, and experience a little more heartache.

Honestly, my only problem with this book is it's the filler between the beginning and the amazing slam-dunk end (well the ending better be amazing).  It's more of setting up your defenses and preparing for the final battle.  And these things take time, in fact they take a lot of time.  This book expands over a year's worth of time, and it doesn't seem like much happens.  Except for relationships budding ,blooming, and growing.  The dukes continue to toy with the Nephilim.  And fantasies collide with reality, and we find reality can be a kind of scary place sometimes.  Who am I kidding?  I loved this book even though it's the middle man.

One of my favorite angel series.  And now I have to wait seven months for the final book.  Ugh...

Challenges:  Paranormal Reading Challenge

2 Years Blogoversary Giveaway

Can you believe Ive been book blogging for two years now?  I've definitely become less active than I was my first year, but I'm still enjoying my books and writing my reviews.  So here's to another year of reading books and writing about them...

Looking at my one year post, I see my idea of short and simple reviews hasn't changed.  I'm not one to read an essay on a novel to determine if I should read it.  I'm looking for the bottom line and a two sentence reason why I should read it.  I've also noticed that I'm slightly lagging on my meme posts.  I guess I kind of didn't want blogging to be a job.  So I stuck with the books and kept reading instead of blogging.  Which is okay; it just kind of turns me into a sporadic blogger.

Books reviewed from November 8, 2012 to October 12, 2013:  76

Books reviewed from October 8 2011 to November 7, 2012:  132

Average Rating 2013:  3.49
Average Rating 2012:  3.44
Overall Average Rating:  3.45

So what are my plans for the next year?  I guess it's to keep reading.  Maybe I'll become more consistent with my blogging and make some good book bloggy friends.  Just keep my head down and keep reading, haha...

The Giveaway!

There will be 5 winners who will win a book of choice. This book of choice has a $15 dollar limit (although I am flexible if the book you really want is barely over) and will be purchased from Amazon or Book Depository (depending on the cheapest option).

How it works:

1. This contest is open internationally (as long as the Book Depository ships to you). 
2. Entrant must be 13 years of age or older. 
3. Giveaway ends on Saturday, December 14. 
4. You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below. You can enter by doing one of the following: 
1. Free entry. Just click to enter. 
2. Follow blog via Bloglovin/GFC. Let me know how you follow and your username in the comments section. 
3. Follow me on twitter. Let me know your twitter username. 
4. Leave a comment on this post. Answer the following question: What's a really good book you've read lately? 
5. Comment on a book review. Let me know which book review you commented on. 
6. Post giveaway button on website. Leave a link to your website/blog in the comments section. 
7. Tweet about the giveaway. Leave a link to your tweet in the comments section. 
5. Winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond with logistics.

Button code:

<a href="http://www.manda-rae-reads.com/2013/10/2-years-blogoversary-giveaway.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60I55LqIxqT__EX-DNjXjlbHPjrzIPHJVW7194bFwTmFcH2scLRnrvw4d0UqGqJIbjJDBLZpsrZWKnIWx4UDwt5qm2ihPyLtfd67PgFe8THzL3oFeoZ1HydH3R4ofdmr0mRu0d9ZCtLk/s320/2yearblog.png" width="100%"></a>

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Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Genre:  Adult Mystery with a Paranormal Tease

Cainsville Series, Book 1

Kelley Armstrong's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Kelley Armstrong's website):

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home, and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

Olivia is the daughter of a wealthy and well-known family in Chicago living the good life until she suddenly finds out who her real parents are.  She's related to serial killers, and the whole world wants to know more about her.  As her mother abandons her to the media, she sets out to make a life of her own in a town that doesn't really know who she is (but they really do).  But then she meets Gabriel, a guy who wants to help her if it means he'll make some big bucks along the way.  As Olivia begins to reconcile with her birth mother, she begins to look at the murders.  Can she figure out if her birth parents really committed these atrocities?  Is there something a little paranormal going on in her new town?

When I found out Kelley Armstrong was starting a new series, I was super-excited.  I picked up the book and noticed it was huge, almost 500 pages.  I was thinking, Yes! I'm in for a treat.  And then I started the book.  It was slow, super slow.  I had a hard time getting into it.  Yes, we'd see some short and obscure mysterious and paranormal clues here and there.  But it wasn't enough to get me invested in the story.  And then I come to the ending and think, That was it?!?!  I just wasted 500 pages of my life, and I'm not satisfied.

While Kelley Armstrong is really good at holding onto the mystery, this story wasn't so good at leaving you satisfied.  It's like the author didn't want to show all of her cards in one move, but she failed to realize that we didn't even see the backside of the cards either.  I can't be interested in the game if I don't know what kind of game I'm playing.  And the paranormal teasing?  I can't take it.

Sorry, I'm not planning to continue this series.  If the books were 300 pages, maybe.  But I kind of feel like I was jipped here...