Bloggiesta Time!

Bloggiesta, hosted by Natasha of Maw Books is a great event for bloggers. I participated some last year, but not enough.  This year I hope to participate more and it looks like I will be able to as my health has me slightly sidelined at the moment, so it looks like laundry will be my only chore this weekend and the rest of the time will be spent reading, working on my blog and watching playoff games :)  Go Bears and go Steelers :)  I would love to see a superbowl with my two favorite teams but first they have to beat two tough teams.


Here's some of what I hope to do this weekend:

• Catchup on reviews.
• Clean up my email inbox, make sure responded to review requests and file in appropriate mailbox, also make sure calendar is up-to-date, schedule reviews with no timeline
• Re-vamp my interview questions
• Start some posts that are rattling around in my head for rainy day posts
• Re-create my template posts for reviews, features, interviews, guest posts, giveaways, etc.  My posts have evolved over the past year, but my templates have not.
• Clean up my tags
• Clean up my sidebars
• Look over my about me page/review policy and update.
• Clean up and update your challenge lists.  Link up your posts with hosts.
• Participate in challenges and visit other participants to see what they are doing and get ideas :)

So are you participating? What are you planning on doing? I know there is more I want to do and I know I won't get through this list but it will give me something to think about in the weeks to come as well.

Book Review: Awakened by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Awakened by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Publisher: Atom

Publish Date: January 4, 2011

Hardcover, 290 pages
Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal
House of Night #8

My Review:
Why I read this: I am hooked on this series.  I was actually getting a little burned out on it but I listened to the previous book on audio and it kind of put the voices in my mind so I was eager to get this one as soon as I could from my library.

How is the novel driven:  Plot


My thoughts: I know a lot of people are complaining about this series and there are a lot of people that love this series.  Before listening to the last book I was more ho-hum about it.  But after listening to the audio as I mentioned above, I was back into the series.  So how was the latest installment?  It was short, 290 pages and only covered a span of a few days, but there was a lot of things going on in the book.

First Zoey and Stark are still on the Isle of Skye and debating staying there.  I love the scenes on this island, it is so magical and so removed from the bleak winter landscape of Tulsa that it is a wonderful change.  Back home Stevie Rae is steal dealing with feeling for Rephaim and her red fledglings and the House of Night.  Then tragedy strikes, Neferet returns and it all turns into a great big pile of bullpoopie as Stevie Rae would say.

As the gang reunites over the tragedy and deal with Neferet and Stevie Rae's feelings for Rephaim (and his for her) the book moves at a fast clip.  I enjoyed every page and I am disappointed to find out I have to wait until November for the next installment.  While not ending on a cliffhanger and nicely tied up for the moment, I know there is much more excitement to come for the fledglings at the Tulsa House of Night.

My Rating: 4.0/5.0


About the Book:

At the start of Awakened, the pulse-pounding eighth installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey has returned, mostly whole, from the Otherworld to her rightful place as High Priestess at the House of Night. Her friends are just glad to have her back, but after losing her human consort, Heath, will Zoey—or her relationship with her super- hot Warrior, Stark—ever be the same? Stevie Rae is drawn even closer to Rephaim, the Raven Mocker with whom she shares a mysterious and powerful Imprint, but he is a dangerous secret that isolates her from her school, her red fledglings, and even her best friends. When the dark threat of Neferet—who is coming closer and closer to achieving her twisted goal of immortality—and Kalona returns, what will it take to keep the House of Night from being lost forever, and what will one desperate girl do to keep her heart from being irreparably broken?

About the Authors:

P.C. Cast is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author as well as an experienced speaker and teacher.  Her novels have been awarded the prestigious Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Prism, Daphne du Maurier, and Affaire de Coeur, as well as others.  She lives in Oklahoma.
Her daughter, Kristin Cast, has won awards for her poetry and journalism.  She also lives in Oklahoma, where she attends college in Tulsa.

Website 

FTC Information: I received this book from my wonderful local library system.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.