50 States Reading Challenge 2011

I just signed up for a new challenge that looked super-cool. It's called the 50 States Reading Challenge and is hosted by Tasha at Book Obsessed. The goal is simple - to read at least one book set in each state of the US. I thought this was a really interesting / creative challenge! Hopefully I'll be able to complete it.


 Check my Progress:

immense frustration.

As the title of this post implies, I am frustrated.

You may or may not have noticed that I am a huge fan of Rachel Vincent's work, especially her Shifters series. I am also an Italian major at my college... so imagine my excitement at hearing that Rachel Vincent's Shifters series was being published in Italian!

Then imagine my disappointment at not being able to find a single site that where I can order these books. Eeeeeeeeek!! I'm dying here! (not literally, of course). I've checked lots of sites, including  amazon, book depository, and eBay. If anyone knows of a site where I can order these books & get them shipped to the US pleaseee let me know. Thanks!

& Here are the lovely books I'm ranting about:

In My Mailbox #2

 In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren in order to show off new books we've gotten recently.

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Nothing literally in my mailbox this week, but I still got LOTS of books!

From the Library:

• Need and Captivate by Carrie Jones
• Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
• Blood Bound and Iron Kissed  by Patricia Briggs

Borrowed from my sister:

• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen
Author: Lauren Kate
Source: Library ; Hardcover: 452 pages
Interest: 2011 Blogger Recommendation Challenge

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Official Blurb:

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

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My Rating: 4 stars ★★★★

My Thoughts:

 "What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours?"

Those were the words I read on the back of the cover when I picked this up off the library shelf. so intriguing. Fallen is filled with mystery, and not all of it as predictable as you might expect - the second half of the book was a real page-turner for me. The ending left many unanswered questions but it wasn't too much of a cliffhanger. Also, the characters all seemed so real, and I quickly got attached to them. Great book, I can't wait to read the next one. On a side note... isn't the cover beautiful?! I totally love it!

Next in Series: Torment
Books like this: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Follow Friday!

This is my first time participating in Follow Friday, a meme hosted by Parajunkie's View in which a new blog is featured each Friday, and everybody hops through the blogs and follows some / gets new followers.

Click the picture to see the full list and add your blog! 

Question: What books have you discovered from someone's blog?

Hmmm a lot, but heres a few:

• Firelight by Sophie Jordan from Elodie at Once Upon a Quote
• White Cat by Holly Black from Chloe at YA Booklover Blog
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano from...everyone! I've been seeing this book everywhere.

Booking Through Thursday - Reading Resolutions for 2011

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday

Question: Any New Year's reading resolutions?
My Answer: Yep! I've already made a list of a few, and I'm sure I'll come up with more later on in the year =P

• My main goal is to read the handful of books that have been collecting dust on my bookshelf for months ever since I bought them.
• Don't buy any more books until goal #1 is met (I'm not too confident that this is a goal I'll be able to follow lol)
• Re-read the Harry Potter series at some point
• Read more classics (luckily, I got about 45 as free e-books from B&N... now time to read them!)
• More reading, less facebook -- facebook is the ultimate time sucking vortex... and I don't feel like it's well-spent procrastination time. If I'm going to procrastinate (and I will, obviously lol), at least let it be something relaxing and educational instead of a complete waste of time 
• Try to step out of my YA fantasy comfort zone and read more genres (mostly, I'd like to read more non-fiction... I've already got The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot on my TBR list... a step in the right direction!)

Do you have any reading resolutions for 2011? 

Share them here! (or link to your post) 

"Waiting On" Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that features books we're anxiously awaiting the release of. My pick for the week is:

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Publication Date: January 11th

Official Blurb:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

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Note: I'll be reading this book for The Story Siren's 2011 Debut Author Challenge!

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?