Teaser Tuesdays #7 – Stone Cold Touch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Yess yess yess! I'm reading (or should I say rereading.....because I succumbed to bad habit and skimmed.....just a tiny bit, and now I'm rereading from scratch *whacks self over the head*) Stone Cold Touch, the second instalment in the The Dark Elements by Jennifer L. Armentrout! Let's just say.....it did not disappoint ;) And my review should be up soon enough. Hopefully.
I'm easily distracted xD

Now where were we, ah yes. TT! I won an ebook of SCT, for which I feel especially lucky, considering my lack of accessibility to physical books (including the library at the moment), and no sign of SCT in the Aus iBooks store.

Source of Pic: jenniferarmentrout.com

“He whipped the headphones right off Dean’s head. “Ignoring us is rude.”
The boy on the bed—the boy who’d always been quiet and had held doors open for other students—smirked as he folded his arms behind his head. “Do I look like I care?”
“Do I look like I won’t rip your head off your shoulders?” replied Roth.
“Whoa,” I said, shooting him a look. “That’s not helping.”
Dean looked over at me and sat up. He reached down between his legs and did something that made my ears burn. “You’re more than welcome to stay in here, honey. These two tools can hit the road, though.”
My mouth dropped open. “Okay. Commence with ripping the head off.”
Roth smirked.”

AND:

“I know what you are.” Dean flopped on his back. “Magnam de cælo, et tu super despectus.”
“And now he speaks Latin?” This was going nowhere fast. “What did he say?”
Roth chuckled. “Something that won’t make Stony happy.”

What's your teaser tuesdays post?

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Musing Mondays #4 — How YA Books Can Affect Young Teens

Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme – hosted by Should Be Reading – that asks you to muse about one of the following each week...

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you're reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let's hear it, then!

Do YA Books Affect Their Young Teen Readers?

Okay. So I've been pondering over this topic for a few years now, and I ended up ranting about it to my parents a couple weeks ago.....which put me in a writing mood, and here I am ;)

Basically, I'm interested in how books, especially YA, affect the mind-sets, attitudes, and beliefs of it's readers.
So firstly, you might be asking, why YA in particular?
Because a lot of the genre's audience are at that impressionable age where they are maturing and still forming their ideals and thoughts on topics and issues (such as gender roles and racism) that will quite likely carry on to when they're adults.

Today, I'm focusing on the female gender role......I know, I have great interest in this topic ;) Hence why one of my last MM posts was on what makes a strong female protagonist.

Should we promote particular books and encourage others to read them if they give a bad example of how females (and males too) should act?
Take Twilight, for instance. I've seen lengthy discussions and debates on GR where people throw opinions at each other about how reading Twilight could be a bad influence, especially on impressionable young teen girls, readers and non-readers alike, who buy into the hype and pick up the books and are then influenced because the characters end up distorting their image of a perfect female in society.
You could argue that people don't necessarily use book characters as role models, but in fact I think, even unconsciously, all figures, including characters we read in books are bound to add to our mental image on how society expects us to act, a mental compass to guide our own self, if you will.

And that is a big problem if many girls of this generation think Bella is a great role model. Because I think it's reasonably safe to say that Bella is a horrid role model (no offence Meyer, but seriously). Romanticism is great, but obsession? To the point of recklessness? No. Just no. If you've read the books, you'll know what I mean, e.g. the hopping-on-a-motorbike-of-a-random-stranger-to-fancy-hearing-his-voice business. Urgh. *shudders*

So yeah, getting young teens to read books with characters like Bella that represent a very undesirable view of society's idealistic female might not be the best idea.
But then you'd say, wait a second. Reading is subjective. If you like a book, you like it. That's hardly anyone else's business.

So on one hand you could say that, hell, fiction is an art. It's creative writing, and it wouldn't be correct to come up to an author and tell them that an aspect of their story is unsavoury and hence the book is ruined. That's subjective, yes?
Then again, if you happen to be on GR like so many book lovers, you'll have noticed that each book has stars so that we can have an average rating to give us an inkling on whether we are likely to enjoy the book in question. So while you can't exactly say whether a book is good or not, you can say if there is a likelihood of a person enjoying it or not.

But while Twilight doesn't necessarily have the highest rating around (at current it's 3.56 stars on Goodreads), it certainly has the numbers at over 2.5 million ratings. No, you didn't hear me wrong. Yes, I did say 2.5 million.
So, many people have read Twilight and obviously enough people liked reading it to create such a hype, regardless of the characters, or more disturbingly, heedful of the characters. And just what does this tell us about our society? Is Bella really a distorted image of what society expects, or is she an accepted ideal of a female in the general public's eye? I really hope it's the former.

Now I'm exhausted so I'm going to stop. Not sure how much sense I just made but I hope you kinda understand what aspects I'm debating XD
Andd........*glances up* uhhhh yeahh....idk how Twilight suddenly monopolised most of my post......*cough* whoops XD I guess I've had a bone to pick with that series for a long time coming heheheh *winks*

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #5 – The Maze Runner

I went to the cinema last saturday and saw TMR....after loads of begging my parents....what can I say....I'm shameless when I really want something.
And wow! It was phenomenal! The graphics, the presentation, the mood of the movie was better than I could've hoped for!

In some ways, I thought that the movie was even better than the book! It built on the book. Improved it even.
Not that the book wasn't amazing...it was...for me, anyway; even tho a lot of stuff was still unresolved and unanswered, the Maze Runner novel was a great start to the trilogy. The only problem I had with the book was that it lacked balance.
It was so centred on the mystery and the maze that I felt that the emotions and budding relationships between the characters were overlooked and pushed into a corner.
In the movie adaption, however, the different elements of the story were really brought together perfectly, and I was really happy that the guys were portrayed in a way that freely showed their emotions, and weren't all stoic and bleehh :)

I read the TMR book over 6 months ago, and I have pretty terrible memory most of the time (whoops hehe), so I can't really point out all the book-to-movie differences, but the most noticeable difference was the lack of supernatural/sci-fi element with the telepathy between Thomas and Teresa. And I actually liked that they cut out that element because it really brought the story to it's raw base and made it more relatable to us as a real story that could happen to us in the future or something. And yes, I think this was a strategy because the general movie-watching public (including myself in this case) tend to like being able to easily relate the the story, hence the success of The Hunger Games, and our apparent love of Dystopian.
But I've also recently heard that the telepathy is quite instrumental in future books, which leaves me wondering how they intend to continue the series as movies.
Pleeeease don't become a repeat of the Eragon fiasco *crosses fingers*

And squeee! The actors were amazeballs! I've seen the actors of Gally and Newt before (XD not literally *pouts*), and I know they're great at what they do, but all the others were new for me, and they sure did impress ;) I can't wait to see more of these up and coming actors (and actress....if people use that term anymore o.O *scratches head*), and I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel soon!
Gossipy Belle: Haven't you heard? The second movie is already in pre-production and casting on IMDb! Get with the times! *facepalm*

The movie interpreted the novel perfectly, and OMG did it start with a bang or what?! XD One second I was sitting in the cinema cradling my popcorn and waiting for the movie to start, and then the next the rattling and grating of the elevator just slammed into me like a double decker......so I guess the cinema speakers were in fully functional capacity ;) But seriously, that start was so epic I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning to end.
And don't get me started on the Grievers *shudders* They looked seriously creepy o.O Ewwwiee!

I especially liked that there was no romance....in the first part of the trilogy at least.
YA romance normally develops rather rapidly, so the lack of romance was pretty new, and honestly, I didn't realize how tired I was of the constant lovey-doveyness till there wasn't any XDD

I haven't actually read the 2nd and 3rd books, but now that I've watched the adaption, and the extent of it's success, I'll have to read the rest of the series before the movies beat me :P

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Musing Mondays #3 – Strong YA Female Heroine Debate

Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme – hosted by Should Be Reading – that asks you to muse about one of the following each week...

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you're reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let's hear it, then!

What Makes A Strong Female Protagonist In YA?

Sadly, I feel most YA authors misunderstand us readers when we say give us strong female charries.
It annoys me when people rave about a heroine being so strong, getting me excited and picking up the book but being disappointed because they're not strong, not really, they're just shutting down their emotions because they view it as a weak and feminine thing, in fact despising and rebuffing everything that they view as feminine, and then the icing on the cake; when they find a love interest (we're talking about YA after all :P), their.....strength *does air quotes*......tends to crumble because they must access their feminine side to swoon over the guy *sighs* And so in the end, the heroine fails to be strong either way. *throws hands up in exasperation*

Do we truly believe that emotions = girly = weak, but males must be all Macho macho! *thumps chest* I'm-so-tough? *rolls eyes*
Because that's just untrue, stereotypical, and frankly I think it's sexist to both men and woman.
Men have emotions too, and females can't be generalised as 'emotional and weak'. Besides, emotions don't make you weak. Not always, anyways. They can make you strong as well. There's always a mix. A balance.

Have you ever walked in a toy store for young kids and noticed the difference between the girl toys and the boy toys? How the girls have lots of pink sparkly princess dresses, and the boys have all their boy stuff? How boys playing dolls or girls playing shooters games is laughed at a lot or met with scepticism, and so we don't tend to see it happen because they want to fit in and tend to conform to social stereotypes to do so?
What about girl and boy baby clothes in a clothing store? Why must girls traditionally wear pink? Why must boys traditionally wear blue?
Or just listen to our fairytales as a another example! We feed young children stories of beautiful princesses in sparkly pink dresses that need saving by their handsome knights in shining armour because,
(1. they can't just save themselves and,
(2. it's the man's job *scowls*
We ingrain it into their brains and surround them with all this ideology. No wonder our society is the way it is.
And if you rebuke the girly-girl stereotype, offff you go to tomboy land o.O Because, as a kid, it's either you're a girly-girl or you're a tomboy.
And as a tomboy, you have to act like a boy. You become one of them......one of the knights *coughs and smothers laughter* XD Away away with the dresses and the pink clothes! You have to be tough and unyielding as stone! Learn to sword-fight and run and get dirty! You shall never again worry about your nails or your looks! Because you're now for all intensive purposes a boy and you must look down upon being clean and pretty! XP
But bewareee......from now on you cannot crush on your fellow bros of the brotherhood *cracks up* and if you do it won't work out because
(1. you're not meant to be pretty (duh *points above*), you're meant to be muddy and roughened up and,
(2. you're one of the boys now, so to them, chances are you're just a fellow boy and bestie.......aaand now get ready for the sudden self-esteem slump *facepalms*
So in conclusion it's not just authors that seem to hold this a-heroine-can-only-be-strong-if-she's-a-tomboy-sterotype. It's a part of our society. *frowns*

I personally grew up out of the mainstream eye, which allowed me to freely create who I wanted to be without being conformed by stereotypes. I liked dresses and    feeling beautiful, yes, but I also liked sword-fighting and being pretending to be a kick-ass heroine, whether it be a zombie killer, dragon rider or assassin. Or all three :D I wanted to be strong, but not stoic. Tho I'd definitely rather be gritty and scratched up than prissy and proper :P
Does that make me a tomboy? Maybe in mainstream, since it's always looking to classify people into a stereotype. But in my opinion, no, I'm not a tomboy. I'm a mix.
And okaayy, I can't reaaally fight, since I haven't taken any proper defence classes (I so want to tho *winks*), but the point is I wouldn't be afraid to scratch the paint on my nails, or mess up my hair if it came down to it (tho I do have a phobia of breaking nails ^^ But heyyy! That's pretty legit, no one would want their nail cracked and ripped *horrified look*, right everyone?? Riighttt?? *narrows eyes* XD).
And that's the image that I'd want girls to look up to and us readers to read about. Not being classed as either girly-girl or tomboy; rather, being a mix of both.

Because, in my opinion, a truly strong female heroine is one that can be kick-ass, smart, brave, and feminine; we don't have to chose between being feminine and strong, and we should never believe otherwise because it's the balance of it all that makes us strong!

.......aand Sarah J. Maas you hit the nail right on the head, which is why I love you dearly ;)
Celaena's a total walking contradiction; which makes her feel real because she can't be classed in one stereotype. Witty, smart, arrogant, brave, loyal, a fashionista, a book lover, vulnerable and guarded, tough as nails, flawed and yet one of the most perfect female heroines ever in my opinion!
#TeamCelaena #TeamToG <3

What's your opinion peeps? :D Sharing is caringggg!

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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9/11 Random Updates (Pre?)Wednesday Issue #10

Yessss I know it's "technically" a preTHURSDAY post but mehh *sticks tongue out* It's random.

Hmm not a lot happened over the week, I guess.. but here we go:

— The FM now has an INSTAGRAM account @fangirlingmisses . Obviously not much is posted.. but if you want to chat or give us some reading recommendations or whateverr, it's really easy to let us know :D Just comment on those picture thingys. Follow please? We'll follow back.

— We're getting nearer and nearer to the publication of IN THE AFTERLIGHT !!! Seriously, October 28th is way too farrrr!! And I seriously need to get my hands on that 2.5 novella *cries* Maybe i'll reread Never Fade while i'm waiting...

— Has anyone watched the IF I STAY or THE GIVER film yet? I'm really curious if they made If I Stay right o.O It's a bit of a hard book to make a film of, don't you think?
Hmm I haven't read the Giver though.. better get onto it.

— I'm going on a school trip to Mongooolia for a week from Monday.. so i'll be gone from the blogger and internet world *dramatic whisper* MISS ME. No juss kidding. No reading for a week though since it's suppose to be a "social" trip.. I miss my computer already *pats laptop* Maybe i'll bring back a picture of a camel. Do you like camels? :D Everyone loves camelssss

—If you're Amy Heugh, sorrrryyyy for the horrible lagging of reading your bookk :/ I'm drowning in homework and stuff... but i'll get that review posted by the weekend! I'm going to go on a reading splurge.

— If you have Kik, you can chat up with me at Lunaluv934 XD I'm lonelyy during the day.
..aaaand now I sound like a person with no life seeking out desperate a social life. Shhh don't tell anyone ;)

— Awwww today is 9/11 :( Memorial day for the terrible incident.. hope everyone is doing well<3

—MissOddball™ Over and Out.

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9/3 Random Updates (Pre?)Wednesdays Issue #9

Sorry y'all for not posting for....like....aaagessss ;( I was going to, but then I got sick.......and I'm still slightly sick ^^ *disgruntled look* My body haaateess meeee! Seriously, I've been sick for a week and a half now! *glares* Bleeehhh enough of this depressing stuff....let's move onto ze fun stuff shall we? ;)

Sooooo, guess what?? We've got eight.....yess EIGHT new Liebster Award nominations! *gasps* Ikr? It's totally crazyyy! That brings our grand total to 18 nominations.......whatever are we gonna do with all these? XD It's is sooooo cool! Seriously! We love you guys so much! *whispers* I admit that all the nominations were starting to scramble my poor fever induced brain tho :P

Oh yesss!!! The Heir of Fire Book Tour is underway! So awesomesauce right?! And there're giveawayss!! *jumps up and down* I'm so exciteddd!! Here's the tour schedule! *beams and gestures wildly*

Tour Schedule:

August 25 – Jaz @ Fiction in Fiction in Fiction

August 26 – Katie @ Polished Page-Turners

August 27 – Kelly @ Belle of the Literati

August 28 – Elena @ Novel Sounds

August 29 – Nicole @ The Quiet Concert

September 1 – Gillian @ Writer of Wrongs

September 2 – Judith @ Paperiot

September 3 – Melanie @ The Daily Prophecy

September 4 – Magan @ Rather Be Reading

September 5 – Andi @ Andi’s ABCs

September 8 – Gina @ Behind the Pages

September 9 – Rachel @ Hello Chelly

September 10 – Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books

I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited.

As you know (you should know *narrows eyes* xD) Throne of Glass is my favourite series in the whole universe! So I'm so excited that I'm going to get a physical copy of HoF! :D My hardcopy (I thiiink it's a hardcopy *cocks head* XP) of HoF is gonna arrive around the 18th Sep!

And yess, I know, this is totally sad, but this is actually my first time ever preordering a physical copy of a book ^^ *wipes tears from eyes* Aaaand it's like the 10th ever YA book that I physically own......agaiin, totally saaad and pathetic XDD I'm a terribleee excuse of a book lover *wails*

Stern Belle: *shoots horrified look* Control yourself you fool! o.O

*whimpers and runs off with my pitiful book pile and trusty iPad full of ebooks* XD

*coughs* Well then.......movingg ooonn :P Has anyone heard of Sparks Rise?! Well, if you're a Darkest Minds fan you might have ;) Tho only recently.......I actually only got wind of this TDM novella like last week on FB! *gaaasp* Bracken has been hiding it from usssss XD *tsk tsk*
It's the latest addition to the Darkest Minds world......aka a novella between Never Fade and In The Afterlight, much like In Time, which is a novella between The Darkest Minds and Never Fade!!
*squeals* So cool right? Sparks Rise is centred on Sam.....if you remember, Sam was Ruby's best friend in Thurmond (until the 'accident' of course....:/) Plus I've heard that there is also a sneak peek of In The Afterlight! Whooooooppp!!
Add it to Goodreads: HERE

And on a random note.....'cause we love randomaniaaa.......I'm loving Ludovico Einaudi and Birdy music right noww *hugs stereo*
Ohhh, and I just got panda-head mitten gloves today.....they're so cuuute *coos at gloves*

Yuupp......I think that's all heheh......

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Teaser Tuesdays #6 – Assassin's Blade

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Yessss I am the dumbest dumbo for rereading the ToG series noww when HoF is already out in some stores (I'm late rereading Lux too.....which is probably why I still haven't read Opposition.....don't kill meeee *whines* XD), but since I have to wait a few weeks for Amazon to hurry up and ship my HoF copy, I do have an excuse for the slow start. Kinda. Not really. *frowns*
Anyway *coughs* I just started Assassin's Blade ;) Funny enough, this is actually the first time reading AB, since I originally read the novellas (minus The Assassin and The Healer) separately before the bind up was available....
Thus I present my TT of Assassin's Blade by the one and only Sarah J. Maas ;)

Source of Pic: Maas's LiveJournal

“With nothing else to distract her, Celaena eventually returned to thinking about Sam. Even weeks later, she had no idea how she’d somehow gotten attached to him, what he’d been shouting when Arobynn beat her, and why Arobynn had thought he’d need three seasoned assassins to restrain him that day.”

AND:

“Arobynn encouraged cutthroat behavior. Even when they were children, he’d set her and Sam against each other, use their victories and failures against them. He’d made her see everyone but Arobynn and Ben as a potential enemy. As allies, yes, but also as foes to be closely watched. Weakness was never to be shown at any cost. Brutality was rewarded. And education and culture were equally important—words could be just as deadly as steel.”

Share your TT's!

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #4 – Pompeii

Ohh. Myyyy. Gawdddd. *dies* I loveddddd this movie <3

There was such attention to detail! :D I was watching the special features after the movie finished and apparently they went craaazy precise to make it look as authentic to Pompeii as possible :)

And the graphics were awesome and everythang! I was just left gobsmacked staring as the mountain erupted, the ground shifted and the oceans heaved. Yessssss *sighs happily*

Ohh and guess what?! Jon Snow has magically appeared in another show ^^ *coughs* Wait sorry, what I meant was, a buffed, hotter Jon Snow, appeared in another show *winks*

I'm not kidding, he was literally identical except for the change of physique! XD Same curly black hair and everythang ;) *giggles* ......aand as you can tell, I may have acquired a teensy crush :P

Belle's rational side: *clears throat* Moving onn.....

Emily Browning played the lead female role, and I was pleasantly surprised by her character! :D Honestly, I was kind of expecting her to be this naïve rich girl who would annoy me the whole movie and then fall in love with the slave/gladiator (played by Jon Sn–I mean, Kit Harington......gaaaahh I keep thinking of him as Jon! *facepalm*), but Cassia (Emily's character) was actually pretty tough! Not physically *rolls eyes* XP Physically she looks extremely delicate. But instead of physical qualities, she was humble, brave, smart, and strong-willed :) Me likey! *nods approvingly*

There were also a few other notable actors and actresses......one in particular being Cassia's mum! SHE WAS THE SAME ACTRESS WHO PLAYED TRINITY IN MATRIX!!!!!!! Eeeeeekkk *gaaasp*

I adored the character developments and relationships. It wasn't just a romance, there was bromance with Atticus (a fellow gladiator) and Milo (Kit's character), and and sisterhood with Cassia and Ariadne (niice names ;D), who, although she was technically Cassia's 'slave', they grew up together and mutually treated each other as sisters *wipes away tears and holds hand to heart* XP

Make no mistake tho, this is POMPEII. No one gets out alive *cries* Not even ze main characters. I knoowww, I burst your bubbles *pats head* But honestly, by the end even tho the story could be labeled tragic and star-crossed love, I felt at peace, and the ending was perfect in my opinion (the make-out session was a bit longer than I expected tho.....noottt that I'm complaining exactly ^^)

And before we watched Pompeii, my brother and I actually made a bet on if the main characters would die or survive....

You see, he was convinced that they'd die, simply because it was Pompeii, but I was hanging on to the hope that they'd let them live somehow.....but as it goes, you know nothing, MissBloodsucker ^^ (and to you GoT fans......yesss I did just say that XD)

And of course they didn't survive, and of course my bro had to make us bet 20 cents >.< *sniffs* Goodbyee my preciousss XD

So what can I say? I seriously loved this moviee! Can I pleaaasee see more movies with this new and improved Jon Snow? Pretty pleasee? Cherries on top? XDD

Thrilling. Enthralling. Haunting.

Thrilling because of all the fight scenes (ohh how I love old Roman time history stories *beams*). And the struggles of power. The politics.

Enthralling from the vengeance and retribution that was brought down upon a certain Senator......*smirks* I am always up for a good vengeance plot....they never fail to bring about a chilling smile on my face #AelinAshryverGalathynius

And it was Haunting. The cinematography. The deaths. Pompeii.

4.5 stars!

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Musing Monday #2 — Opposition (Lux #5) book tour teasers!

Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme – hosted by Should Be Reading – that asks you to muse about one of the following each week...

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you're reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let's hear it, then!

The time has come to rant discuss the Opposition teasers!

Source of Pic: Mundie Moms

Heyyho all Lux luvers! Who's been keeping up with the book tour for Opposition leading up to it's release on the 5th Aug?!

Belle's alter ego: *sticks hand up*

*rolls eyes* I know that. Be silent. XD
Well, I wanted to talk to you dedicated Lux readers about the teasers our deaarr Jennifer L. Armentrout has been giving to us! ^^
Yess, you heard correct! TEASERS. When I first found out I was like....

But then I read said teasers, and I became like....

Yup. Have fun XD But you so wanna read these, even if they break you apart! Trust me on this ;)
So first off, for those who don't have the tour list, here it is:

7/15 – Mundie Moms

7/16 – Tales of a Ravenous Reader

7/17 – Once Upon a Twilight

7/18 – Book Hounds

7/19 – Books Complete Me

7/20 – Cover Contessa

7/29 – Secretly Adorkable
8/1 – Seeing Double in Neverland
8/4 – Vilma's Book Blog

Did you just see what they did?? Yaahh. You know what I mean don't you? The convenient 9 day gap before Secretly Adorkable's teaser?! *hisses in exasperation* Sneaky rats. Why didn't I notice that till I'd read all the other teasers and was anxiously awaiting the last? -___- Meh. XD
Anyways, you can click the tour stops above to go straight to the excerpt posts......and I'd advise going through them in the order listed, since the teasers directly follow each other.....see why I was so flabbergasted with that 9 day trick yet? *nods smugly* I thought so.
Now read it! So I can have someone to discuss with!
...
*5 minutes later*
...
Yaayyy you've read it! Dun dunn duunn.....here comes my barrage of thoughts......*elegant flourish*
...
For the first 4 teasers: Kat's pov
AHHHHH!!!!!! That little biatchhhhh Sadi!!! She's worse than Ash was!!! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE ON HER GLOWY SOUL.....NOT THAT SHE ACTUALLY HAS ONE ^^ *HISSES*

DAEMONNN!!!!!! DEE!!!!!! *smacks into wall* What's wrong with them?? *whimpers* Are they faking or are they really brainwasheddd???
*world wide pandemic* I'm scared. So scared to read Opposition :/ But I know I will, 'cause I just HAVE to read what happens! *rocks back and forth* I feel like I'm going crazy. Literally crazy *goes Ms. Karp mode* XD Hurry up release date!! -___- *shakes random peeps shoulders*
...
For the next 2 teasers: Daemon's pov *squeals*
“Body say hello to wall.” *snickers*
And who da heck is this Rolland a**hole to order everyone around like little slave dogs?? >:O *cough* excuse my language *cough XD
OMG HIVEEE???? This IS brainwashing!! :O Any human emotions left?? *horrified look* And here we thought Luxens were ze good guys o.O Apparently not......at least, not in this sinister hive thang they have going on ^^ If this is how the Luxens were like back in their home planet before it was destroyed, by the Wyrd, give them some humanity! XDD
...
For the next 2 teasers after that: Daemon's pov continues :D
Can I kill this Rolland guy? And practically the whole Luxen race? Pretty please? Cherries on top? *flashes murderous smirk*
Dee.....? *whimpers* It seems that Daemon's at least partly there, but Dee?! *chin wobbles* She's completely gone? *cries*
.....waaaitt WHERE ARE THE OTHERS??? o.O Where is Dawson? Wouldn't he be with Dee and Daemon.......? *furrows brow and shoots worried glance*
GOOOOO KAATTYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! *FIST PUMP*
Loosserrrrrrr Sadi XDD *waggles fingers and slams door*
KATEMONN!!!!!!! <333 *SOBS IN RELIEF*
...
For the last teaser: Back to Kat's :P
Poor Katy :/
ERRRMEEEEGOOOSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! THE FEEEELLSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! >:D


And that's it folks :D What are your thoughts?? (.......if any of you have sumfin nice to say about Sadi.....which you don't....*narrows eyes*.....I will rip you to pieces. Friendly warning :P)

Psst......the last excerpt has an international giveawaayyyy for a signed copy of Oppositionnn *sings*
Double psst you can also go to iBooks to read a sample of the first 2 mind-blowing chappies of Opposition ^^ *winks*

AND HELL YEAAAHHHH OPPOSITION IS FINALLY GONNA BE RELEASED TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! *THROWS CONFETTI*

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #3 - Lucy

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

I have to say that this movie was pretty good. I was expecting something a little different from watching the trailers, but the actual movie still surprised me in it's own way. Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, who might I add was the perfect actress to play this part, wasn't injected with a drug like I had originally thought, but had come in contact with a drug that caused her brain to open up to unfathomable capacities when the bag inside her stomach, put there by her captors, had ruptured.

Through the whole movie, she was trying to figure out what was happening to her and how the drug could do what it was doing to her. She was also looking for the other people who had had bags put in their intestines so that the same thing didn't happen to them.

Morgan Freeman played a professor who had been researching the different capacities of the brain and what would happen if humans were able to unlock more than 10% of their brain. Lucy was pretty much the end of that research due to the fact that she was the only human on earth to have ever unlocked 100% of her brain's capacity.

Everyone who played in this movie were exceptional and there wouldn't be better actors to play the parts. This movie was action packed and had just enough serious life lesson parts to make it interesting.

The ending...That was a fantastic ending. "I am Everywhere." Lucy, after unlocking that final percent of her brain, didn't need the physical body of a human. She was able to be everywhere, in everything, and she shared the knowledge she had learned with the professors and scientists that she went to for help.

I give Lucy a 3.5 because even though it was good and intriguing, it still had it's boring parts and seemed to be kind of like that movie Limitless, just at a much larger scale.

~LittleMissTotem Ruffling Your Feathers ;)

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7/30 Random Updates (Pre?)Wednesdays Issue #8

Hey lovelies ;) How've you all been? Goood? Glad to hear :P

• I have some crazyyyy newss!! Guess how many Liebster Award nominations we've received now? :D TEN!!!!!!! *THROWS CONFETTI AND RUNS IN CIRCLES* Thank you so much Rach my ToG ambassador twinner, and Car....you're awesome gurl! And of course the one and only Sandee! *one arm hug* And also thank you all our readers and fellow bloggers! So many of you talk, chat, share, and recommend books to us, and just make us feel so welcome in general! Love you all <3 *wipes eyes* Whoaaaa calm down there Belle *slaps forehead* XD But seriously, you guys rock! *group hug*

• Ookayyy XD Enough with the drama *chides self* Also, if some of you missed this, Tia aka LittleMissTotem has joined our blogging ranks here at FM! Here's her welcome and Q&A post: dun dunn duunn!

• Psst......also another second special peep might be joining ussss ^^.......*crosses fingers* Belle's alter ego: Woowww Belle, you rock at subtlety *facepalm*

• Just yesterday I went to what we call 'Orientation Day' at the college (as in year 11 and 12, not uni ^^ *rolls eyes at muuricannss*) that I'll be attending next year! Basically we try out 4 subject areas to help us decide what subjects to take next year. I ended up trying health studies, french, media production, and dance! It was soooo much fuunn ;) I met a bunch of cool peeps and everythang was great.....except at one point the other kids tried to get me to do a solo of the routine we'd just learnt in the dance class because apparently I was really good *shudders* The teacher saved me *sighs in relief* No solos for meee naahh uhh! *nods quickly*

• Ohh and for you crazy Lux fanatics.....like me *winks* yaaassssss I know you're out there!! :P, I'll be writing a post discussing (and ranting) about the teasers for Opposition that are being released as part of the official book tour! I can't believe the series is almost over :O *wails* DAEMON! KATY! DEE! ARCHER! DAWSON! THE LIST GOES ON! Soooooo....be on ze lookout for ze post ;)

SO MANY COOL MOVIE THANGS!! BE PREPARED!! ;D *WIDENS EYES*

The Maze Runner Trailer #2 Doesn't it loook epic? ^^

Dun dunn duunn!

The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies Teaser Trailer KDSHDKJFGDSSLJL LOTR LOVER *points to self*

Dun dunn duunn!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Teaser Trailer! Ooooooooo! *leans forward* :D

Dun dunn duunn!

That's it from me! :D Whatchu think of the movie trailers??

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Teaser Tuesdays #5 – The Darkest Minds

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Hey guys! *waves* Tia here with the Teaser Tuesday :D It's my first one so bare with me since I'm still learnin' the ropes ^^
My teaser is going to be from Alexandra Bracken's The Darkest Minds! I figured that since In the Afterlight is coming out soon, a reread is in order ;D This book is one of my favorites soo..hope ya'll enjoy the teasersss

"Sam," I said, hating the way my voice shook. She didn't stop or deign to look at me until we were by our bunks and she had one fist curled in the bedsheets, ready to pull herself up to the top bed. 

"Say something. Please," I begged.

Source of Pic: GoodReads

"You stood there," Sam's voice was low and rough, like she hadn't used it for days. "You shouldn't have," her chin came down to rest against her chest. 

Messes of hair fell over her shoulders and cheeks, hiding her expression. I felt it then, the way that the hold I had on her had suddenly sprang free. I had the strangest sensation of floating, of drifting farther and farther away, with nothing and no one to cling to. I was standing right beside her, but the distance between us had split into the kind of canyon I couldn't jump across. 

AND

My foot slipped against the rock as I stepped away, my back scraping against the wall, my head sending me spiraling into panic. It was thrilling in anticipation, relishing how close he was. Maybe his anger had evaporated, but whatever he was feeling now was stronger than before. Stronger than pain, frustration, or fury. 

Get away from me and don't were struck in my tight chest. Wedged between terror and want. Liam's lips formed my name. But there was nothing outside of the blood rushing in my ears.  

What are your teasers? Share below!

~LittleMissTotem Ruffling Your Feathers ;)

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Couch Potato Time #2 – Vampire Academy

Source of Pic: Moviepilot

Source of Pic: Moviepilot

Live fast die young bad girls do it well, live fast die young bad girls do it well.....

*adopts Rose Hathaway voice*
Soooooo. *cracks up* VA. Vaaampiiiree Academy. That's right, folks. The time has come to delve into the wonderful world of Moroi, Dhampirs, and Strigoi by means of it's (currently?) one and only movie adaption. Yuuup :P

I watched it two days ago with my family, and because my brother has read VA as well, he and I kept bursting out laughing like hyenas, like, every 5 minutes (I think our parents thought we'd gone totally bonkers XP) because every time it came to a particular point in the story where we read the book and imagined it one way, the movie reality was just soooo drastically different it made it unbearably baaaad and funny to watch at the same time ^^ It's safe to say I spent half the time either fixated on the TV whilst cringing behind my chair, or laughing uncontrollably XD

I have a confession to make xD As much as I liked the the VA books, I didn't expect much from this movie.....I know, I know, how pessimistic of me *holds hands up in surrender* But you see, me being the movie fanatic that I am, I followed the production of VA quite closely. And.....weeelll........it didn't exactly impress :P I mean, yeaahh the trailer was hilarious ^^ But from the start a lot of factors seemed cringe worthy XD Like, anything from the acting, the cheesy lines, and casting choices, to the way they walked and talked *nods sadly*

But it actually surprised me! I mean, it was totally cheesy and all that, but for me it felt longer than it's 1 hour 40 minutes, and some of the original plot work by ze glorious Mead really shined through.
So I guess you could say it was cheesy, but somehow so cheesy it was bearably hilarious? ^^ *snickers*

I actually feel like I benefited by knowing the book because seeing the movie compared to what I had imagined some scenes would be like when reading the book made it that much more funny! Also I think that if you'd never read the books, this movie may not appeal to you as much, because peeps who've read the books understand what's happening more clearly......for example where fans see a giggle worthy introduction of Ms Karp, you'll probably see some eyebrow raising what-the-fudge-sticks-am-I-doing-watching-this-movie worthy introduction to a teacher who's psychotically weird ^^ ....if you catch my drift XD

Cons Time.......*sigh*
I'd love to say that there weren't any cons, buuut then I'd be lying. And I don't lie......ookaaay, that's a lie *flashes grin*.......but I don't lie often *nods* XP
Firstly, the character development sucked (no pun intended *winks*) because the actual individual scenes were too rushed! VA is a really glorious book, with nice plot work, and you just cannot fit it in a 1 and 2/3 hour feature film :/ So to compensate for the lack of time, it was like.......'goood we're done this scene (albeit to the minimum), let's get to the next one effective immediately aaaaaahhh!! ......and don't forget to talk extremely fast o.O' XDD I'm not joking, my mum kept complaining that it almost seemed like the movie was on fast forward with the speed of their convos...*raises brow*

Casting.....

Rose! She was alright ;) I enjoyed Zoey Deutch as Rose Hathaway, so for the most part *thumbs up* :D

 

Lucy Fry as Lissa.....hmmm. She wasn't exactly what I'd pictured Lissa to look like, and the contacts were pretty obvious at times *quirks eyebrow* But overall she did a pretty okay job I think.....

Dimitri's actor pick wasn't as horrifying as I'd thought it would be *taps chin*, but still o_0 I stick to the fact that my vision for a less pale, less bulked up, in some ways more youthful, 5 o'clock shadowed Dimitri seems more appealing *frowns* And I seriously cringed each time he used the Rose pet name aka Roza *scrunches up nose* Blehhhhh.

Christian Ozera baybiii XP Now he was an awesome pick in my opinion! Tho unfortunately I had trouble connecting with his character portrayal for the simple fact that he 'fell in love' waaaayy too quickly in the movie. But that's not Dominic Sherwood's fault, that's just another movie length casualty -__-

Mia ^^ No. Sorry, but nooooo. Her pick just didn't work :/ Not only did she look nothing like I imagined, but her character arc was just a complete fail. Whether this was the actress, Sami Gayle's fault, or the fault of her script, I'm not sure, but nooo *shudders*


Will There Be A Second Movie?!
The million dollar question! Squueeeee! *pauses* The truth is, it's unconfirmed at the moment.....I guess it depends on how much they made....which probably wasn't that much XP And what the demand is....which depends on all you peeps out there in the big wide world *gestures widely*

Conclusion Dun Dunn Duuunnn!
If you wanted a serious badass adaption of VA, you'll be mighty dissapointed, but if you're happy to roll with a highly cheesy, lightly funded, mean girl style version, then go for it ^^ No one's gonna stop you :P

Well see y'all.......*pauses*......sweet sassy molassy! *cover mouth*......errr *turns bright red*......sorwieeee.......uhhh.....I couldn't help myself *waggles fingers* XDD

2.5 stars :P

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Stacking the Shelves #2

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where you share books you've recently added to your bookshelves, either electronically or physically.

I actually went to the bookstore last week in the first time in foreverrrr... I usually order online, you see :P

Heheh before you ask.. yes that's my teddy bear XD

I usually NEVER get this many books but a few I ordered before came in the mail too 0.o

1. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny - I bought this in the store, I had no idea what it was.... but the synopsis sounded interesting and it was on saleee...soooo... Apparently it's the 6th book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, which I have absolutely no idea what that is *coughs* Opps. Some kind of detective crime thing..yehh
2. Silverfin by Charlie Higson - First of the Young James Bond series! Bought in bookstore. Heard a few great things about it, and action/thriller teen spies are awesome :P
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Okay I have to admit, I really just got it from my mum's bookshelf for a bookswap xD But she didn't read it yet and said I could have it so I guess it counts? *scratches head*  
4. Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness - (Those three books) I've already read the first and second, but I only had the second one in print. And since I loved it soo muchhh, I bought the whole series! :D It's totally worth itt. I bought them online so it was cheaper.. Plus it was on sale so yeyyy
5. Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone - Bought this in bookstore. I haven't heard of this eitherrr...but it's some kind of contemporary love story with time travel... I'm actually looking forward to this one xD 

Yeahhh I guess that's it I guess..? I would love to know your new additions too :P Drop a commentt *winks* 

—MissOddball™ Over and Out. *salutes*

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Teaser Tuesdays #4 – The Beginning of Everything

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Okkaayy peoples! Cassie here. My first Teaser Tuesday :D I always find these fun to read.
My teasers will be from The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schenider. The book was awesome, I juuuust finished it,  and I'll be posting a review soon! Be on the lookout *winks* Here we go:

Source of Pic: Goodreads

   "So Ezra," Phoebe said, sliding onto the bench next to Luke. "Hows life as a teenage vampire?" Toby snorted, and Cassidy snickered through a mouthful of cupcake. 
   "Oh come on," Phoebe continued. "You're asking for it. Pale skin, black clothes, no lunch, and that whole brooding thing? It's hilarious. You should get some body glitter and go after an unsuspecting freshman." 
   "You should!" Cassidy agreed. "Tell her you're a dangerous monster. And mention how good her blood smells." 
   "Wrong time of the month on that one, and I'm getting slapped," I muttered, 
and everyone laughed.

AND:

There was a little smear of sunscreen below her ear. 
   "Wait," I said, reaching to wipe it away. "You had sunscreen on your cheek."
   "Did you get it?" Cassidy asked.
   "No, I smeared it bigger."
   "Whatever," she said. "At least I don't have sunscreen in my hair"
   "It's not sunscreen. You're turning my hair white." 
  
What are your teasers? Share below!

—MissOddball™ Over and Out. *salutes*

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