Top Ten Tuesday #45: Favourite Movies/TV Shows (Featuring Punk & Bug too!) July 15, 2014

Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Favourite Movies/TV Shows

This was a super easy and super challenging feature! Trying to remember all the favourite and keep it down to 10. I managed to do it! Punk & Bug thought this week’s topic was fun and wanted to share their favourites too!

Mama’s Favourite TV Shows/Movies

1. Bones

I love this show! ❤ I adore the books too. It’s easy to love them both and not get upset at the differences because they’re both unique. I REALLY hope I get to meet Kathy Reichs at YALLFEST!

2. Supernatural.

I’ve been hooked since the first season, but watch it in spurts. I was up to date, but I’m an entire season behind again! Mary and I have had many conversations about Supernatural!

3. How I Met Your Mother

My first few times seeing this show, I thought it was ridiculous. Hubby got hooked while he was deployed to Iraq in 2010 and got me hooked when he came home. Oh, Barney!

4. NCIS.

I blame my sister-in-law. I ship Tony and Ziva so hard.

5. JAG.

I still have the hots for Harm. Mmmm. I blame this show for my Naval Academy obsession. I wanted to be a JAG lawyer when I grew up lol. I married a soldier instead!

6. West Wing.

OBSESSED WITH THIS SHOW.

7. American President.

I blame my mother. This obsession led to obsession with #6. I love this movie. ❤

8. Game of Thrones.

Duh. You really thought this wouldn’t be on this fantasy lover’s list?

9. The Americans.

ZOMG I love this show. I need to catch up! Russian spies!

10. The Tudors.

SO historically inaccurate, but I loved it so much anyway. I wish they’d continued with Henry VIII’s kids. At least Elizabeth. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Punk & Bug’s Favourite TV Shows/Movies 

1. Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood

Ugga Mugga!

2. Dinosaur Train

Dinosaurs and trains, what could be better?!

3. Sesame Street

Elmo is our favourite!

4. Thomas & Friends

This is the best show EVAR.

5. Doc McStuffins

We love to pretend that we’re Doc!

6. Sofia the First

Punk likes James and Bug wants to be Sofia!

7. Jake and the Neverland Pirates

This is a recent love. Punk loves it so much he wants a Pirate Party for his birthday!

8. Frozen

This is a new favourite.Punk loves Olaf and Bug loves Anna & Elsa!

9. Lion King

THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVAR.

10. Brave

The Scotland obsession has been passed down. Parenting WIN! (:

Thanks for dropping by! What are some of your favourite movies and shows? (Pictures are from imdb.com)

Top Ten Tuesday #38: Books I Almost Put Down May 13, 2014

Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling. Let’s face it. When I got this book, I wasn’t big into reading for me and I wanted to give up after the first chapter. Thankfully, my Gran wouldn’t let me! 

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz. I just wasn’t as into this book as I have been with her other books. /: My love of her kept me in til the end though!

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier Honestly, I wish I had given up on this book. It kept getting worse with each book. I kinda feel cheated cause I stayed in til the end. 

Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I wish I hadn’t even read this one, but I did. Ugh. 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge I stuck it out even though I had to take a break. It wasn’t all that I was hoping it would be, but it was decent. 

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown That moment when you realise your favourite series is nothing but a formulaic book. I’ll still read the Robert Langdon series though. It kinda sucks that it’s a bit predictable now. 

The Host by Stephenie Meyer I actually did put this one down. I bought it the day it released, read about 100 pages and put it down. I was still hoping for a bit of Twilight style and this was so much better that it threw me off and I couldn’t handle it. When I did come back to it a year later I couldn’t put it down!

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Ugh…. this book made the South look sooooo bad. The movie made it worse. I was so disappointed.

After the End by Amy Plum This book. I just can’t even. I was expecting brilliance. I got disappointment and predictability. /:

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory Oh, this book. Definitely my least favourite of The Cousin’s War series. I stuck it out til the end though.

Crossed by Ally Condie This was another that I had to take a step away from and read something else and come back to it. I finished it though!

*Review* Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston May 11, 2014

***As always mild spoilers may follow***

Rating:3 stars
Pub date:17 September 2013
Publisher:Putnam Juvenile
Genre:Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Dystopian, Paranormal
Format:personal copy, hardcover, signed; ARC obtained from ARCycling
Status:Book one of the Heart of Dread series

Summary:

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she’s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

My thoughts:

I have to take a moment and marvel that there is finally a Melissa de la Cruz book that didn’t wow me. I went in knowing it wasn’t received at well as other things she’s written, but c’mon. It’s by Melissa freaking de la Cruz. I had hopes that it was a fluke. I don’t know what it was, but whatever it was, I don’t know what happened with this book.

I was so excited for a new Melissa de la Cruz series. I bought a signed copy as a Happy Birthday to me present. The whole idea of Frozen intrigued me. Everything’s FROZEN. Ice age-esque. So. Excited. Finally, I decided to read it. I found out my library had it on audiobook so I decided it’d be a good listen while I do things around the house book. Nope.

The action in the beginning had me listening to sections a few times and checking my physical book. There’s so much info dumped at a time. I’m still not sure if I caught everything or not.

I was hoping the characters would redeem it. Nope. Reading or listening, I really couldn’t get into the two POV characters of Nat and Wes. I honestly didn’t care about them and would frequently have to replay or reread sections because I would zone out.

It also felt way too much like Under the Never Sky. I didn’t like how Into the Still Blue went and Frozen really felt like an alternate version in a way. Maybe if I’d read this first, my feelings would be swapped. Either way, I was distracted by that though a lot, too.

Some parts screamed Melissa de la Cruz wrote this and once I started noticing that, I started looking out for parts to mentally scream to myself “YAY! She totally wrote this part and I can tell it!” While it’s neat that I can hear her writing voice, it’s also annoying because it should be a seamless transition and one style shouldn’t over power the other. I know he’s helped her on other works, but I’ve never felt a voice struggle like I did in Frozen. Now, don’t get me wrong. Melissa can write a killer romance scene and I enjoyed those. But, they weren’t enough to redeem the suck.

If I gave up on books more easily than I do, I might have bailed. My love for Melissa de la Cruz kept me in til the end, but also distracted me. Now that I know what to expect, I’ll probably reread it. Hopefully without the distractions it will be a lot better. I’ll still definitely read Stolen when it comes out later this year. I’m interested enough in the story to at least give it a shot!

About the authors:

 

 

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

 

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Hello April, Goodbye March! April 1, 2014

Another month already gone! This year is just flying by! March was a very productive month for me. I got a good amount of reading and blog work done. I have reviews written up and scheduled all the way through the middle of May! Things are moving along nicely. Hubby started a new job and the kids are growing like weeds. Life is really starting to look up with the start of spring. (: Keep an eye out for some more giveaways coming soon!

Books I read in March (in order of completion)

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Fifty First Times “Field Emotions” by Melissa West

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Free Four by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Books with the kiddos: (I actually kept track!)

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats? by Jane Yolen

Spot Can Count by Eric Hill

The Story of Benjamin Franklin by Patricia A Pingry

You Are My I Love You by Maryann Cusimano Love (Bug’s Imagination Library Book) 

Down by the Station by Jess Stockham 

Cleo the Cat by Caroline Mockford 

Penguins Can’t Fly! by Richard Byrne 

Sesame Street: Elmo Look and Find by Publications International Ltd. 

The Story of Thomas Jefferson by Patricia A Pingry 

Thomas and the Treasure by Wilbert Awdry 

If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff 

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? by Jane Yolen 

Digger the Dinosaur Rebecca Kai Dotlich 

Coming up in April
We actually don’t have anything big coming up this month. Hopefully that means it’ll be a low key month. I’m super excited about Easter though! (:

Goals for April
Work on commenting and visiting other blogs

Read more with the kiddos

Stay ahead of schedule 

April releases I’m excited for:

The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

April TBR:
As You Turn Away by Molli Moran

After the End by Amy Plum

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols

Challenge Update:

I’m involved with four challenges officially.

Edelweiss & Netgalley challenge: 5/25 (Prisoner of Night and Fog)

TBR Pile challenge: 17/11-20 {I can and most likely WILL be increasing my level on this. I’m also not including ARCs in this unless I complete them after the book is released} (Cress, Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, The Book Thief,Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire, Frozen, The Impossible Knife of Memory)

Series challenge: 7/4-6 {I can and most likely will increase my level on this as well} (Cress, Divergent, Code Name Verity)

“Real” Book challenge: 12/21-30 {I have to sign up for this one once I get this post up!} (Cress, Divergent, The Book Thief, Code Name Verity, Frozen, The Impossible Knife of Memory)

How was your March? What’s up for April?