Top Ten Tuesday: Why I Love Being A Book Blogger

This awesome meme is hosted by the lovely bookaholics over at The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's theme: Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Being A [Book] Blogger

I'm really excited to share with you guys MY ten reasons why I love being a blogger, although, I can see how many of our reasons are going to be the same. . .

1. The people. I'm thinking this is going to be one of the most popular answers; the people. People come for the blogging, but stay for the people. You start to bond with the others, and before you know it, you have many MANY friends on here and you know you could never leave them, just like you could never leave your family.

2. The books. Once you start blogging, you eventually get used to knowing the release date of books and whats coming out when and whose the author of that. It's addicting. I left blogging for 4-6 months and came back and it's been driving me CRAZY not knowing when something was being released.

3. The reading. You get used to reading every night and meeting deadlines, I missed that! I would sit there and try to finish a book as fast as I could just to get it over with and move on to the next one. I know it sounds pathetic, but it's true! I missed blogging and the reading! 

4. Reviews. I love reading the reviews. I can't help it. I like knowing what others think about the books that I read too. Good or bad, I want to know.

5. The authors. Every time I meet an author, I can't help but scream on the inside. I mean, seriously, an author, no matter how big or small, is still an author. I can't not go crazy. 

6. Goals. I've set goals for myself in book blogging. It helps myself set on task and follow through. It showed me that anything is possible!

7. Finding new books. There are millions, probably billions of books out there that I haven't read. Every time I read a book, it's like I'm opening a new doorway. Letting myself escape into a new story and not returning into the world until the story ends. 

8. Meeting NEW people. I live in a big city, sure I meet new people every day, but I can meet people from all over the world through blogging. It's just something FUN to do. 

9. TBR. Lets all just come clean and say it; our TBR is never going to be empty. Cry, if you want at that, but it's just not going to happen. It will always have something on there. It may only have 1 book, it may have thousands of books. Your TBR is never going to be empty though. With blogging, mine only gets longer with every day, it helps me set a HUGE goal that I may never get to, but I like adding a new book and being able to check off an old one. It's a feeling of relief.

10. And number ten.. Well, I don't have a reason #10. I'm completely blank as to what to put here.. So I'm just going to say..

HAPPY TUESDAY! 

Have a great day :)

In My Mailbox(2 new)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Please comment with your links so I can come see what's new with you too!!

So, I've been keeping up with my reading/lowering the number of books I check out from the library every week, so surprisingly, this week I have 2 new books to share with you guys! 

Last week, I checked out Abandon by Meg Cabot and Red Glove by Holly Black(both are truly amazing and unique - definite must reads). This week, I have a few different and unique books to read!

The first one is Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris. It's the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. But, I didn't review the first book on this blog, so I won't be reviewing it on this blog. Any series that I have not started on THIS blog, will not be reviewed. Just to clear that up for everyone :)

Here's the book cover and a few things about 'Living Dead In Dallas'.

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of bad luck. First, her coworker is murdered. Then, she's face-to-face with a beastly creature that gives her a poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins. But they saved her life, so when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, Sookie complies - and soon she's in Dallas using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire.

And the second and last one I got was The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. I know I'm a little late for reading this book, but I'm pretty sure the hype on this series has DEFINITELY not died down. 

Now, isn't this cover just gorgeous?? 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

And wait for it..

The rest of the series! Well, the first full three anyway. And then there's the more talked about one:

The Iron Knight! You can obviously tell that the book belongs in the series, but with the change from girl to boy on the cover kind of makes you wonder whats in store for us..

Well, that's all for this week! Make sure to stop by tomorrow for Top Ten Tuesday and Teaser Tuesday!

Top 5 Sunday: Books for a PNR 1st Timer

Hosted by Larissa @ Larissa's Bookish Life

Happy Sunday everyone! Well, Saturday really, but I'm posting early ;)

This week's theme is Top 5 Books For A Paranormal 1st Timer! 

My choices:

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. This series ROCKS. A must-read for a first timer :)

House of Night series by P. C. Cast & Kristen Cast. I've only read the first few, but really love the series!

Caster Chronicles by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. I love this dark, twisted series. No doubt that you won't love it!

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I'm in love with this series already and I've only read the first 2 ;)

And last, but NEVER the end of my long, long list of recommend-ies

The Sookie Stackhouse series! They are awesome, for a vampire series ;)

Well, that's it for this week! What are your recommends for the 1st timers?

White Cat - Holly Black

Title: White Cat
Series: Curse Workers #1
Author: Holly Black
My Rating: B

Summary:

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

Review:

I read this a while back and am just now reviewing it. I have to say, it still scares me a little bit in White Cat how they can CHANGE people into other things. I think Black did an amazing job with writing this book.
Cassel's character is perfect. For a scam-artist anyway. I mean, he IS a scammer. But, I don't blame him for what he does. Everyone has to live, right? ;)
Lila is a stubborn girl, but I can see why she is the way she is. Her father isn't really a good example for her, but what can she do? You can't pick who your parents are, so you have to do with what you have.
I admit I didn't start this book until the last possible moment, I wasn't all that excited about reading it. I mean, the genre just didn't seem like one I'd really get into. I read paranormal romance, yes, but magic and wizards and stuff, it's not my favorite thing to read about. I do enjoy some of the books though.
I was actually shocked to find out that I couldn't sleep at night because I was wondering what would happen next and who would do what next. It was rather exhausting to go to bed and just THINK about it.
I will definitely read this fast-pacing and truly unique series to the end!

Don't worry, you can always read the next book in this must-read series: