Review: The Hidden by Jessica Verday

 The Hidden by Jessica Verday

Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny. Theirs is a bond that transcends even death. But as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very hard choices to make. Caspian may be the love of her life, but is that love worth dying for?
Beautifully spun, emotionally gripping, and irresistibly romantic, The Hidden will leave you breathless.

Publishes in US:
3rd in The Hollow series
Source: Simon Galley Grab

My Review: This was the perfect ending to a series: it answered questions, wrapped up everything, gave me the scene I've been waiting for and crossed my fingers for, and the actual ending of the book was great.
   There were some things I never saw coming, but they made a lot of sense in hindsight, and other things that I was hoping for happened.
   I highly recommend this series, it has a great love story, lots of historical ghostly twists, and it kept me emotionally on the edge of my seat.

Review: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

   Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

When Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemies, she’s certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer—one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack—and the man—she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

Published in US: July 2011
2nd in series
Source: Library

My Review:

   Wolfsbane is a great second book in the series... I say this because there is a huge cliff-hanger, and I am left wishing that it wasn't in fact the end of the book, but of a chapter... Because I'm itching to know what happens.

   We get filled in on a lot of what left me scratching my head in Nightshade, but I forgave because of the vibrant characters and racing plot. Though this makes for a bit of a slow start. I had a hard time remembering all the details from Nightshade, and it took me a bit to get back in the world when bombarded with new characters and lots of history. That said, she did a great job incorporating it, and it answered so many questions, and left room for more with the next book.
   Shay really gets his chance to shine in this book, and to me, he really seems to come out on top. Now, a complete blindsight could come in Bloodrose, and put Ren seriously back in the running in my eyes in BR, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
   This book is heartbreaking, finding out what happens after Calla and Shay escape, and what those left behind are left to handle. The new characters also bring a rich texture to the story, and Connor especially kept me turning the page... For me, choosing between Ren and Shay has always mostly been for Calla, but I'll take Connor for myself :)

I'd love to hear what you think of this book and/or my review. 

Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011

Feel free to nominate me or your other favorite bloggers.

What is it?
Book Blogger Appreciation Week is an annual celebration of book blogs. It’s a jam packed week dedicated to acknowledging the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to preserving our culture of literacy. This year’s celebration takes place September 12-September 16th. The week includes guest posts, dailty activities, giveaways, games, special podcasts, and an awards program exclusively devoted to book blogs.

We invite all book bloggers to register for BBAW 2011. This year, registration requires a Twitter account or Google ID. You will be added to the BBAW 2011 Directory, and you will also be able to fill out your nomination form and do your final voting for BBAW Awards from account.

Don’t be shy! You’ve worked hard this year, and it’s time to celebrate with your people! Whether your blog is one day old or one hundred years old, there’s a place for you in BBAW 2011.

How does it work?

 The process has changed significantly this year from last year so please read the following directions carefully. Please also read our FAQ. Do not hesitate to ask any questions, you can email us at bookbloggerappreciationweek@gmail.com
Nominations are now open.

In order to nominate a blog, one must log-in to the special BBAW Awards site and register with the BBAW Directory using either your google ID or your Twitter account. You may nominate one blog per category.Please note: Nominating blogs is a time intensive activity, be sure to set aside a block of time to complete your nomination form.
Please be aware that when you make your nominations, you will need to have the following information on hand:
The Blog’s Name
The Blog’s URL
The Email Address for the blog
Any nominations without this completed information will be disqualified.
If there are more than 25 blogs with the same number of nominations, you will receive another ballot to break the tie. If less than three blogs are nominated in any one category that category will be removed from consideration.
If a blogger receives multiple nominations across categories, they’ll be given the chance to choose the category they feel best represents their blog. They will also be asked to submit five links they feel best represent their blog in the past year. These five links should include one review link.
Nominations close August 13th.
Blogs on the long list will be evaluated by a panel of judges according to predetermined criteria. Long lists will have no more than 25 blogs and no fewer than six. If a category has too few nominations those blogs will automatically advance to the short list stage.
Short list voting will be open September 5th and will require a twitter id or google log-in to vote.
BOOK BLOGGER CATEGORIES:

Best Written Book Blog
This blog is consistently well-written, clear, and engaging, no matter what the subject.

Best Author Interviews
This blogger does his or her research and asks the questions no one else does. These interviews are top-notch. Note that this award reflects the quality of the interviews, not the popularity of the person being interviewed.

Best New Book Blog
his blog was launched on or after September 1, 2010. The blogger has already made his or her mark in terms of the quality of the reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content on the blog; it’s hard to imagine the book blogging world without this blogger.

Best Book Blog Meme
This weekly or monthly meme is one that you never miss. You look forward to contributing on a regular basis and/or to reading the participants’ posts.

Best Book Blogging Event
This event, whether it focuses on blogging, reading, collecting reviews, or building community, inspires everyone to join in. It brings bloggers together for fun, learning, reading, or mutual support and help.

Best Book Blog Feature or Series of Posts
This weekly or monthly feature is something that an individual blogger does on a regular basis, but that does not include the community participation of a meme.

NICHE CATEGORIES:

Best Eclectic Book Blog

This blog doesn’t specialize in any one book genre. It is known for consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in a variety of genres.

Best Kidlit Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content for books written for young children through middle-grade readers.

Best Young Adult Book Blog
This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content for books written for a young adult audience.

Best Nonfiction Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in nonfiction. It may cover a variety of areas or focus on one particular field.

Best Speculative Fiction Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in fantasy, science fiction, horror, and/or paranormal books. The blog may cover several of these subgenres or just one.

Best Literary Fiction Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in literary fiction.

Best Classics Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in classics.

Best Romance Book Blog

This blog offers the best reviews and specialized content in romance books of any subgenre, from historical to contemporary.

Best Historical Fiction Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in historical novels. For the purposes of this award, consider historical anything from 1945 (World War II) and older.

Best Mystery/Suspense/Crime Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in mysteries, suspense, and/or crime. The blog may cover several of these subgenres or just one.

Best Horror/Thriller Book Blog

This blog offers the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in horror and/or thrillers. This blog may cover both of these subgenres or just one.

Best GLBT Lit Book Blog

This blog features the best reviews and specialized content in GLBT books. This blogger may or may not self-identify as a member of the GLBT community, but he or she focuses on GLBT literature on the blog

Best Cultural Book Blog

This blog features the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in books and/or authors of a *specific* cultural identity. This blogger may or may not self-identify with the culture featured on the blog but focuses on that culture’s literature.

Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Nonfiction Book Blog

This blog features the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content in the graphic medium.

Best Publishing/Industry Blog

This blog features the best content on the publishing industry and is written by an industry professional.

Best Published Author Blog

This blog features the best content written by an author. This is an author who keeps an active blog that engages his or her readers.

Best Spiritual, Inspirational, or Religious Book Blog

This blog features the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content on books that address a life of faith. This blog is not necessarily associated with an organized religion and may discuss either fiction or nonfiction books.

Best Audiobook Blog

This blog features the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content on audiobooks.

Best Poetry Blog

This blog features the best consistently excellent reviews, recommendations, analyses, and other content content in poetry.

Best Bookstore Blog

This blog is associated with a retail bookstore, offering book news, staff recommendations, and other content of interest to people who love to shop for books.

Best Bookish Miscellaneous Blog

This blog has a specific focus that is related to books, but doesn’t include reviews of books. It might focus on book cover design, books in culture, trends in books, hidden treasures in books, etc.

Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

  City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Published in US: Apr 2011

Source: Library

My Review:  Another great installment in the Mortal Instruments series. It drew me right into the world of ShadowHunters and Downworlders and into the lives of some of my favorite characters.
Admittedly, we do get a few hot scenes with Jace and Clary, but as usual, nothing is easy for them. The mark of cain has made life much more difficult for Simon, and so has BOTH of his budding romances.
I'm yearning for happiness and good thing for my characters, so I can't wait for the next ones. I'd love to know what you think of the book(s) or my review. 

Co-op Video Games

Me and my husband play through RPG games together, and I thought I'd put together a list of what we've enjoyed. A few people have asked, so I hope this is helpful, and at least a place to start.
I know that a lot of games are coop online or with different systems, but we wanted to play together, in the same house, and didn't want to have to buy two seperate games and systems. Which is why we've largely shied away from PC gaming, because even the lan versions of games usually require you to have two different serial numbers, as we've recently discovered with Neverwinter Nights.

Dungeon Siege 3

This is the most recent we've played, and it's even got me interested in playing PC games so I can check out the 1st and 2nd installment. We played on PS3, but it's out for XBOX 360 too.
I played as the archon Anjali  and my husband was the gunwoman, Katarina.
We played every chance we got until we beat it, and once we give it a rest, we're interested in seeing if there are some alternate endings.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

This and Dark Alliance 2 were probably my favorites. These were released on PS2 and XBOX. It was a lot of dungeon crawling and hack and slash, but I loved the quests, the leveling up and playing something together. I as usual, was a magician. DA2 was fun because of the customization and gems with the weapons. 

Champions of Norrath

While this and Return to Arms are set in the same universe as Baldur's Gate, and the game play is similar, I thought I'd mention them seperately because I played both groups at different times.

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

We enjoyed the gameplay and the set up well enough but didn't like the ending. I'd still recommend it though. This, I do believe was a PS3 exclusive.