Top 10 Book Boyfriends in 2011

Wooo just this one and then I’m all caught up! This one is going to be difficult.

1. Eric Northman from the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris

There will never be a year when a Sookie Stackhouse novel releases that Eric wouldn’t make this list. I don’t care what kind of stupid things he does.

2. Shane Collins from the Morganville Vampire novels by Rachel Caine

Okay, so I have about three books to catch up on in this series, but I. Love. Shane.

3. Sean Griswold from Sean Griswold’s Head by Lindsey Leavitt

Totally crush-worthy.

4. Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling

I don’t care. He will always make my list. Always.

5. Puck from the Iron Fey novels by Julie Kagawa

I like how he’s mischievous. 

Drawing (which is awesome) from Deviantart

6. Finnick Odair from the Hunger Games novels by Suzanne Collins

Okay, so this isn’t technically 2011, but I DON’T CARE. Finnick is too good to not be on this list. What a babe.

7. Will from the Ghost and the Goth novels by Stacey Kade

Love him!

8. Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter novles by JK Rowling

Since the movie came out in 2011, he counts...right?

9. Thomas from the Maze Runner novels by James Dashner

He always tries to do the right thing. <3

10. Ben from the Elixir novels by Hilary Duff

I know. But, he’s totally swoon-worthy! 

Tomorrow is Top 10 Characters in 2011--tough decisions there!

Who were your book boyfriends from 2011? Did we share any?

A Look at: True Blood Season 4

It's no secret that I love Charlaine Harris, the Sookie Stackhouse novels and the HBO television show, True Blood. On Thursday, they posted some new promo pictures that I just had to share with you! I would have posted them yesterday, but I had already posted twice and I have been posting quite a bit this week. Don't want to overwhelm you all, now do I?

All pictures are from the True Blood page on Facebook

Jason, Pam and Jessica! Three of my favorite characters on the show. If you haven't read the books, just wait for all of the developments with Jason this season! Also, I love the addition of Jessica to the show. She is not in the books and I think she's a welcome addition to the cast. Her relationship with Hoyt is precious. I can't leave this without saying something about Pam. She is one of the funniest people with the driest senses of humor!

Ah, Sookie and all of her suitors. Clearly Eric is the best suitor. Just saying. Look at Bill's stance. Haha. He is the only one not looking at Sookie.. I wonder if this is saying something... On further inspection, perhaps Eric is looking at Alcide. Either way, Eric is still the best. ;-)

Awe, then we have Lafayette, Tara and Sam. I'm glad Lafayette is still on the show and he should have an interesting season with the development of Jesus as a witch. Tara. Oh, dear Tara. Sometimes she really annoys me, but girl has been through a lot. Her new hair looks fab as well. Then there is Sam. He went a little cuckoo at the end of last season. Did he shoot Tommy for real? We'll have to wait and see.

On another note, I really like how each poster has a color theme. 

I hope you enjoy this season! Will you be watching? Do you have a favorite season so far? Let me know your predictions in the comments!

Judge a Book by its Cover: Dead Until Dark

Today we are starting the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris with Dead Until Dark.

All pictures from Amazon

Ahhh the Sookie Stackhouse series. I love these books. I own both the first and second books here. I am generally partial to the covers that have the drawings on them. For some reason, I find it really refreshing that these covers exist on a series of adult paranormal romance novels. I also think the font choice is so fun. I also love the TV tie-in cover because it matches my True Blood Season 1 DVD. It's also so deliciously vampiric. The third one is kind of cool as well. I like the blue tones, but I don't necessarily think I would be drawn to this cover in a store.

Which one is your favorite? Who's excited for the the new Sookie book coming out soon and True Blood SEASON 4 (for the book lovers, you knowwww what that means!!)? Let me know in the comments!

Vampires & More CONTEST-Got Books? Event! Ends 7/24 NOW CLOSED

This contest is now closed.


Hey guys! It's my first giveaway--are you excited? I am! I'm participating in the Got Books? event and there are over 100 bloggers holding contests for 48 hours. It starts Friday and ends Saturday, so enter enter enter! How cool is this event, really? Anyway, I was going to do my very first vlog to go along with the contest showing the prizes, but I just got home from Boston and look like death. ;) Maybe some other time. I know, stop rambling and get to the good stuff.

What you will win:

Yay!

1 (one) True Blood HBO drawstring backpack (sorry, it is wrinkled!)

1 (one) Insatiable by Meg Cabot bookmark and 1 (one) Insatiable by Meg Cabot postcard

1 (one) Club Dead by Charlaine Harris TV tie-in paperback book and 1 (one) True Blood Season 2 soundtrack

1 (one) Hunted by P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast audiobook

Fill out the formy FORM to enter! (*Note, comments are always appreciated (please do), but only entries filled out in the form will be accepted!)

The rules:

*Open to US/Canada mailing addresses only. No P.O. boxes, please. Sorry international readers :(

*Entries will be accepted from Friday, July 23, 2010 at midnight EST to Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 11:59pm EST.

*All entries will be added up and entered into random.org and it will spit out a winner.

*Only entries submitted through the form will be accepted, but please feel free to comment and chat with me :)

*You must include your email address--this is how I will contact the winner. I will also do a blog post.

*There will be 1 (one) winner.

*The winner will be announced via email/blog post sometime on Sunday, July 25, 2010. Said winner will have 48 hours to respond (from the time the email was sent) with their mailing address. If they do not respond within the acceptable time period (boo!), a new winner will be chosen with random.org. 

*I will ship the prizes out sometime during the week of 8/2-8/6. I will be out of town until then.

Good luck lovely readers! I hope someone enjoys all of these things just as much as I do.

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris Review

Title: Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries Book #4)

Author: Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels

Genre: Mystery

Page Count: 306

Book Type: Library Hardcover 
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

ISBN: 978-0-425-23015-2

From Amazon: Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.

Review: As promised, I finished Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris this evening.  This was, by far, my favorite in the Harper Connelly series, which is a shame because I own the first three, but only picked this one up as a library book. Sometimes I have a hard time with the characters in this series. I feel that Charlaine Harris doesn't always allow you to get to know the minor characters as well and then when something happens to them, you don't feel quite as bad. Throughout the series, I was always interested in the disappearance of Harper's sister, Cameron. I was excited when right there in the description it says that we will find out what actually happened--which makes me think this is that last in the series? I'm not sure if Charlaine Harris is planning on writing any more. The description does not lie, and we do, in fact, find out what happened to Cameron. If you read my last post, you will know that I was waiting for a bird to carry a skull somewhere due to the cover, but that never happened, which left me a bit disappointed.


Over all, this book is a quick read and I would suggest picking up the series from the library if you like mysteries. I wouldn't tell you to bump it up to the top of your list, though. I regret physically buying the first three, but I did only get them in paperback, so it isn't quite so bad. I would much rather read the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Those are books that I could read over and over again, where I don't think I will be revisiting Harper anytime soon.


My library has started to add little comment cards in the backs of the books, which I think is amazing. Obviously I love sharing my thoughts on books and love reading other people's thoughts (have you seen the blogs I subscribe to?). There was only one comment before mine on this book and it said, "Very Good!!!". I wrote, "My favorite of the series! Still prefer the Sookie Stackhouse books."


Have you read this series? What are your thoughts? Also, do you prefer the Sookie Stackhouse novels over these or vice versa? Does your library put comment cards in their books? Let me know!

My Reading Heaven

As I type this, I am 100 pages away from finishing Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris, so look for a review of that tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I have had quite a long day. I spent it walking around Washington, DC in the sweltering heat (we also went to the art museum). I don't think it has ever been quite this hot while I have been here. On top of that, it was pouring for the 10 minute walk from the metro to our apartment and we didn't have an umbrella. My chucks gave me a blister, so now I am sitting here with a fan blowing on me in my absolute reading heaven. I have a Diet Coke and green M&M's by my side, I am good to go. I thought I would share a few pictures of how fabulous it looks (maybe it just looks that way to me since I am obsessed with the DC--Diet Coke).

It's a pretty cool cover, huh? I'm still waiting for a bird to carry a skull somewhere in the book...

The green ones are my favorites!

Just a tidbit about me--my socks NEVER match!

I'll be finished with the book and reviewing for you soon <3

Happy Birthday to Me!

At midnight I officially turned into an old woman. I should have gotten my acceptance letter to Hogwarts 12 years ago and I should have found a secret wardrobe somewhere in the world sometime before that.  Alas, none of that happened (I'm still waiting for an owl carrying a Hogwarts letter though).

My 21st birthday! I can't believe that was two years ago.

Over in the real world, I'm celebrating my birthday like a normal 23 year old, I think. If anyone cares about my day to day life, I had a combined family birthday party with my dad on Monday.  I received some money and gift cards (Old Navy, Bath and Body Works, Sephora, McDonalds (perfect for my road trip to Iowa!) and Nordstrom's) plus a couple of other gifts. It was a lovely evening and I definitely enjoyed my double layer cookie cake (who knew they made those?).

Excuse the horrible picture, it was taken with a cell phone and I didn't take the lid off for some reason.  

Last night, we had an old school get together with a bunch of my friends and their parents, plus a softball coach of ours who moved to California awhile ago. I spent every weekend of every summer with these girls from the age of 9 to 17. It was so nice to see everyone again!

Today, my brother gave me a gift card to Half Price Books--expect to see what I buy in a following post!  Tonight, I'm going to Mad Mex for happy hour and dinner with some friends. It should be delightful!

Last time I was at Mad Mex.

On a more bookish note, so this post isn't completely pointless, I am in the middle of Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris.  It is the fourth book in her Harper Connelly series and I am enjoying this one a lot more than the previous ones in the series.  Hopefully this holds true for the rest of the book.  I still prefer the Sookie Stackhouse novels, though.  

Batch of Library Books 7/8/10

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe: Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs and others.  All short stories based on werewolves and holidays.  Should be an excellent read.

The Gates by John Connolly.  The gates to Hell are visible from the real world due to the miscalculations .  Saving the world is all up to a young boy, Samuel Johnson, and I am sure there will be some crazy things happening.

The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts by David Colbert:  I have been super into non-fiction stories (mainly about Harry Potter) lately.  I'm really excited to read this one.

Muggles and Magic: J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon by George Beahm.  This goes along with the whole non-fiction thing above.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton.  I've never read a Michael Crichton novel, but I am excited to start.  This seems to be a pirates novel at its finest: adventure, atmosphere and action.

The Child Thief by Brom.  I'm actually kind of scared to read this one.  It is a twisted, adult version of 'Peter Pan' and even the cover creeps me out; however, the author worked with Tim Burton on 'Sleepy Hollow,' so I'm sure I'll like it.  It's a pretty massive book, but I do have a lot of trips coming up soon!

Not pictured in this batch is: The End of Harry Potter? by David Langford because, well, I finished it already.  It was so fun seeing which predictions he got right and which ones he got wrong for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I just recently got a library card and I have definitely been using it to my advantage.  I am in the middle of Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris right now, but i will be getting to these shortly.