BookMooch and other updates.

Hello, darlings!

I was thinking I should write a non-review or giveaway post just so I could catch you up with what's been going on in my world. Lately, I have been reading books less for fun and more because I had to. Thank God I like them! I am currently hanging out with Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, a book I've read once before and absolutely loved. A review is coming soon.

Also, you may have noticed that I am hosting a super fun giveaway. The book is Coffeehouse Angel, which I've seen a lot around the blogosphere, so it was only natural to request a review copy. If you haven't read the review, now's your chance. It is a great, cozy, fluffy book for this time of year. I also expect many of you to enter the giveaway, so that's exciting as well!

I find it hard to visit all of your blogs, and I apologize for that. I wish there was an easier way for me to read all the posts (though I do read like 80% of everything) and especially to leave a comment. I am working on this, so give me time. :)

Finally, I have joined BookMooch! Any people out there who could provide me tips? I'm loving it so far and am sending out my copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre to a lady in America next week.

Kisses!

Nikola.

Giveaway: Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

Again, it's giveaway time! After one copy of M. Griffith's Alec Thrace has found it's winner, it's time to offer something completely different. This time, it's an ARC of Suzanne Selfors' much hyped book, Coffeehouse Angel. Feel free to read my review here, it's a cozy, fluffy, delightful read, and I can't think of a better time to do a giveaway than now, when it's cold outside and coffee (or tea) becomes our best friend.

1. The giveaway is open to US only.

2. The giveaway will have one winner.

3. The giveaway will close on November 9th.

4. In order to enter, leave a comment with your email address. No email adress, no entry!

5. Special entries are awarded on the following basis:

+2 for following (never too late to start)

+2 for tweeting (leave a link)

+2 for linking to the contest, +5 for using a graphic.

6. The winners will be notified by email, as well as announced on the blog. Good luck!

Thank you Suzanne Selfors, for making this giveaway possible!

Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion - Giveaway Winner!

I am sorry for being a bit tardy when it comes to posting who the winner of the giveaway is, but here it goes now. Congratulations, Melissa (My World)! I will send you an email as soon as I am done typing this post, please reply ASAP with your address so I can let the author know where to send the book. I am also looking forward to your review.

I would also like to take this opportunity and thank my followers (104 of them at this point in time!) for reading what I have to say about books and commenting. I am doing my best to try and visit your blogs back, give me time! :)

Also, congratulations and good luck to everyone participating in the global readathon today. I didn't think I would be able to participate myself, so I didn't apply, but now I regret it. If anyone wants to chat, hit me up on AIM - my nick there is poses89 (or send me an email to poses89@aim.com).

Finally, make sure you check out my blog tomorrow for a new giveaway - one I believe will have everyone signing up like crazy!

Review: Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

When Katrina spots a homeless guy sleeping in the alley behind her grandmother's coffee shop, she leaves him a cup of coffee, a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans, and some pastries to tidy him over, never expecting this random act of kindness to turn her life upside down. The adorable vagrant, Malcolm, is actually a real guardian angel on a break between missions, and now he won't leave until he can reward Katrina's selflessness by fulfilling her deepest desire.

Suzanne Selfors' YA novel Coffeehouse Angel was a surprisingly fun read. Both funny and poetic, the novel successfully dealt with a spectrum of themes and motifs, including the search of one's purpose in life, responsibilities, fears, self-confidence, life and death. The author managed to do all of this without preaching, and although the book risked being a Christian propaganda piece from the very title, it is a greatly delivered story.

Of course, it is majorly important that the protagonist is well-characterized. Katrina is very relatable, and a great portrayal of teenagers. The book may be PG, but all the necessary problems teenagers go through are addressed, which was a pleasant surprise. People dealing with Twilight post-partum depression, might just find an adequate replacement in the form of Coffeehouse Angel.

Thanks to Suzanne Selfors for sending me an autographed ARC of the book, as well as many promotional goodies. Word on the street is, this book might soon be featured in a giveaway on this blog. So, drop by regularly.

RATING: 5/5

Meme Time!

1. What author do you own the most books by? Well, it is easy to say J.K. Rowling, since I own all seven Harry Potter books, plus Quidditch Through the Ages. However, I think I own even more Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, King Henry VI, King Henry VIII, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like it, The Merchant of Venice...

2. What book do you own the most copies of? Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, all in different editions. One is a hardcover Serbian translation, published in 1986. The second one is a Penguin Classics edition, and finally, the third one is a part of The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, part of the Oxford Paperbacks series. The funny thing is, all three books were given to me by the same person!

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? No, I think it's quite normal.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Wow, I never thought of characters that way. However, Dorian Grey would certainly be one of them, as well as Will from Cunningham's Flesh & Blood. Finally, I adore Mrs. Dalloway!

5. What book have you read the most times in your life? Probably a Harry Potter book.

6. Favorite book as a ten year old? That's easy! Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? Probably Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion.

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? I adored Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal!

9. If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be? To Kill a Mockingbird. But they can't have Atticus. He's mine.

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Michael Cunningham's Flesh and Blood. I am also excited to see the newest Dorian Grey movie!

11. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? This is a very difficult question. Canterbury Tales comes to mind, though I may be wrong. Also, The Mysteries of Udolpho, not difficult due to style, but due to slowness!

12. What is your favorite book? This is an impossible question to answer. I will simply skip it.

13. What is your favorite play? Probably Shakespeare's Macbeth, or A Midsummer Night's Dream. I am looking forward to reading Equus.

14. Poem? I am partial to Adam Zagayewski.

15. Essay? I have no idea.

16. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? I really have no idea.

17. What is your desert island book? Probably something with practical tips, and then some Cunningham for enjoyment.

18. And . . . what are you reading right now? I'm finnishing a light, fluffy YA read The Coffeehouse Angel, which I will review tomorrow. After that, I'm reading some Victorian and Modernist literature for school - Lord Jim, Vanity Fair, Wurthering Heights, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man,...

Review: Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion by M.D. Griffith

Alec Thrace is a nineteen year old privileged son of the mighty House of Thrace on the magical island of Atlantis, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the Atlantic Ocean where science meets prehistory and intermingles from time to time with magic. Alec learns of a great adventure that his missing father left for him, to find and use a long lost medallion to bring the body of a great king back to Atlantis before the warring factions of Rome and Carthage can lay claim to it. However, Alec soon learns that there is more to the medallion than its golden exterior. Within it lies the secret of the one for whom it was made. Together, Alec and his friends race through the world discovering how dangerous it can be and how precious their mythical island nation is as well as what some would do to lay claim to its wealth and knowledge.

Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion seems tailor-made for fantasy fiction fanatics. If you are one, and also happen to like history, read away! I am sure you will love it. However, I strongly believe that any book should somehow appeal to more people than just its target audience. M.D. Griffith's debut novel fails. I was never grabbed by the sleeve of my shirt to go investigate further with the characters of this first installment in the Atlantis: The Hidden Kingdom series.

This does not mean that M.D. is not a talented writer. I am happily anticipating whatever is coming our way from his pen next. His vivid descriptions are a great proof of this. Mysterious, fictional places such as Babylon or Atlantis itself were almost Tolkien-like. However, as I read I missed the anti-religious coloring of Phillip Pullman, or the refurbishment of classics that J. K. Rowling is so good at. Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion covered a big time period, but like many other fantasy writers, M.D. Griffith made the mistake of not making it about something that transcends myths, puzzles and cliches.

RATING: 2/5

A big thanks to M.D. Griffith for the review copy!

Giveaway: Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion by M.D. Griffith

Ah, it's good to be back. After not having internet for a while, it's nice to finally be able to communicate with authors, publishers and my favorite bloggers. On that note, I would like to open a new contest! This time, you can win one copy of M.D. Griffith's debut novel Alec Thrace and the Lost Medallion. This is the first book in his Atlantis: The Hidden Kingdom series.

1. The giveaway is open internationally.

2. The giveaway will have one winner.

3. The giveaway will be open until October 22nd.

4. In order to enter, leave your comment together with your email address.

5. Special entries are awarded on the following basis:

+2 for following (never too late to start)

+2 for tweeting about the contest (leave a link!)

+2 for linking to the contest, sidebar is okay (+4 for using a picture!)

6. The winners will be notified by email, as well as announced on the blog. Good luck!

Thanks to M.D. Griffith for making this giveaway possible!

Review: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters/Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Although not a sequel to its widely popular predecessor, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the reworked version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility continues the tradition of putting these beloved characters into ridiculous and possibly deadly situations. A cross between the original novel and a much more violent version of Pirates of the Carribean, the novel builds up on Zombies and delivers laughs and the occasional stomachache. If you think bloody sea monster attacks are funny. Personally, I had a good time.

I expect most Jane Austen fans will pick up this book with reservations, but they should have a good time as well. In my humble opinion, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters should be less offending than the recent paranormal version of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, which suffered both stylistically, as well as content-wise. Pick up this latest spoof, and remember to read it on dry land!

RATING: 4/5

Thank you to Melissa Monachello from Quirk Books for approaching me with a review copy.