Follow Friday #10!

Friday again! Another week come and gone and it's time for my basically 4 day weekend, just like every weekend. College does such wonderful things. :)

Anyways, Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read each week and is a joint effort between all of us bloggers  to find new blogs to read and love. Plus, each week a different question is asked, and I get to answer it! So here goes:

Q. It's that pesky magic book fairy again! She has another wish: What imaginary book world would you like to make a reality?

ME. This is such a hard question! I know the world of Harry Potter is an obvious, though highly desirable, but I tend to really get immersed in major fantasy worlds more than anything else. When I have to read about an entire world completely unlike what I know it's so fun to get into, and I don't want to leave if it's done well. My favorite would probably be the worlds of the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. I know this is a polarizing series, but I loved the books when I read them. I loved the parallel worlds. One was much like ours, but one we spent most of our time in was much like what I read in other fantasy books, and I loved the juxtaposition. Ohhhhhh. Now I need to reread those... *runs off to find my copies*

I've nothing much to tell you guys in my closing remarks, so have a lovely and eventful weekend! See ya soon!

Winners of the 100 Follower Giveaway! :) :)

Whew! My second giveaway has now come and gone, and I thought it was super fun. I hope you guys did too! I've picked the winners through Rafflecopter, which uses Random.org for random number generation. So, without further ado, I'm pleased to announce the winners!

The signed copy of White Cat goes to... Entry #73, MElysah!!

The ARC of Eve goes to... Entry #172, lindsaywrites!!

The ARC of Shatter Me goes to... Entry #16, Kate!!

The ARC of The Space Between goes to... Entry #210, usagi!!

And my additional prize, just because y'all are awesome, is a copy of Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion, which is my favorite book I've read all year. Gotta share the love!

This goes to... Entry #178, Rachel!! (Now that's a good name.)

I've emailed all of the winners, and they have 48 hours to respond, or I'll have to pick someone else in their place, and that would make me sad. I hope you guys have a lovely rest of the week, and I'll be seeing you tomorrow for Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop! :)

Siren by Tricia Rayburn

Vanessa and Justine Sands have vacationed in Winter Harbor, Maine for as long as they can remember. The beach town holds fond memories, especially of the days spent with the Carmichael boys, Simon and Caleb. Vanessa is bound and determined to get over her fears of cliff-diving and the ocean, and be more like her fearless sister this summer.

But when Justine's body washes up on the beach after a particularly heated argument with her parents, Vanessa can't believe Justine's death was a suicide, despite what the doctors say. Plus Caleb has disappeared. As she sets out with Simon to uncover the truth, bodies keep washing up on the shore. All of those dead are men, and all are smiling. Vanessa soon finds out Justine's death is part of something much larger and older than her family problems, and she is somehow inexorably entwined.

Siren by Tricia Rayburn was not what I expected it to be. I read the title and my mind went to mermaids, which, as you may know, are traditionally quite similar to sirens. I'd been dying to read a mermaid book, and thought this might fill the void. It hasn't, but that isn't to say I didn't enjoy Siren all the same.

Vanessa is not the strongest heroine I've ever read, but she's not the worst either. At the start of the book, I was afraid she was going to be her wimpy, afraid of everything self the entire time, and she wasn't. Part of why she's a wimp is that she's lived in her older sister, Justine's, shadow her entire life. She also depends on her way too much. Despite this, she harbors no resignation and they are as close as can be. I also admired that she was so bound to find out what happened to Justine, despite the fact that she was so afraid of EVERYTHING.

I am a die-hard lover of nerds. Simon is so utterly adorable in his nerdiness, so I obviously loved him. He is so sweet. It's nice to have a guy who isn't a tortured soul or a bad boy. Simon is just his sweet sweet self, and he loves Vanessa. Swoon. :) :)

There are a lot of good characters, with lots of interesting traits that I'd like to know more about in the second book. I also liked the different concept of sirens, especially that they're able to really be like normal women and live lives like normal people, but have this seduction ability. They don't just sit in lagoons or on rocks waiting for the sailor to come by. I also liked that they're not inherently evil, as they can be portrayed a lot of times. Each woman makes her choice about how she wants to live her life.

I have lots and lots and lots of questions, and hope Tricia Rayburn can answer them in book 2, which is out now! This is really my biggest complaint. I need my questions answered!!! I feel like an author needs to give the reader enough answers to be satisfied, but leave us hanging enough that we'll want to read another book (if it's a series), or, really, they should believe their characters are compelling enough to keep us intrigued. I'll be picking up the second book quite soon though. :)

Risk a paper cut? Anyone interested in the mythology of mermaids and sirens will be interested to read a new take on them, and anyone who just likes a good, kinda creepy story will like this book too!


To buy: Amazon

Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop #9!!!

The week has come and gone guys! It's already somehow feeling like fall here in Alabama, and football season has officially started! I'm finding it hard to believe this is my ninth week of Friday memes, but it is! :) If you haven't seen, I'm having my 100 follower giveaway here, so go enter! I'm giving away ARCs from Anna Carey, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tahereh Mafi, plus a signed book by Holly Black. Isn't that worth your time? :) Plus, they're only seven more days to enter! EEEEEEEE!

Anyways, Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee each week and is a joint effort between all of us bloggers to get more followers. Plus, each week a different question is asked, and I get to answer it! So here goes:

Q. Have you ever wanted a villain to win at the end of a story? If so, which one?
Me. Sometimes I kinda would like a villain to win, but never enough to really root for them. Sometimes they're just super interesting characters, though not actually good, and sometimes the reasons behind what they're doing are good, but the actions in and of themselves are not. All in all, not really. I'm always really rooting for the good guys! Though sometimes to end with a villain winning makes for a really great story.

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly par-tay for book bloggers to connect! It's hosted by Crazy for Books (follow that link to get to this week's Blogger Hop post!) and lasts Friday through Monday every week! And we get another exciting question, here goes:

Q. Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn't read that genre anymore?ME. I mostly read YA, but I still love to read a lot of adult and historical fiction. I read YA because it's relatable. Most of the time, the stories are about people quite similar to me who end up in outstanding situations, and I love being able to picture myself in those stories. But, it's also not hard for me to identify with characters in adult novels, especially as I get older. So, if authors stopped writing YA I wouldn't have a problem reading other things at all! I could NEVER give up reading completely. I'd read cereal boxes if there was nothing else to read. :)
So... All the fun is done! Please go check out my giveaway (IT'S INTERNATIONAL!) and have a great weekend! :)

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

Published on: September 6, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher provided egalley on Netgalley

From Goodreads:

Anyone who’s had something truly crappy happen to them will tell you: It’s all about Before and After. What I’m talking about here is the ka-pow, shake-you-to-your-core-and-turn-your-bones-to-plastic kind of crappy.

Sixteen-year-old Laurel’s world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new reality in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel’s life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss—a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.

Now, normally I cry at everything. I cry at stupid things. I cry at the smallest details that no one else cries at. But I did not cry in The Beginning of After. I could tell I maybe should have, but I just didn't. I found The Beginning of After to be just a decent book, not extraordinary or life-altering, but entertaining enough and worth a read.

The book starts just before a fatal car accident that kills our protagonist, Laurel's, parents and little brother, along with their neighbor Mrs. Kaufman. Her husband, who was driving, is in a coma, and unlikely to come out. It is supposed to be all about Laurel's grief and how she deals with it. Honestly, I felt like her grief only played a part sometimes. She'd have mini episodes of freakouts, and then be totally fine for a few chapters. While I didn't like much of what Laurel did or said, I can get over that. A girl who's lost basically her entire existence has that excuse. I did find her great interest in prom to be odd. Your whole family is dead, and you're worrying about a boy asking you to prom? Yes, you need a sense of normalcy, but the switch between her state of mind is jarring and didn't feel right.


I have a feeling I'm not in the majority of people when I say that I didn't find the book to be all that moving.  I honestly don't know how I would react should something like that happen to me and I could be completely off base in my thoughts. I felt like Laurel's grandmother's grief was much more compelling, and we only saw brief glances of that. But in those brief glances, you could see a woman torn apart with grief but who has to hold herself together to be the strong face for her granddaughter. That is where I found the most emotional parts of the book.


I feel like it sounds like I really didn't like this book, and that is utterly not true. I can see the message Jennifer Castle was trying to get across. I thought the story was paced well and flowed well enough. I can see fans of Sarah Dessen loving it easily. I just didn't find it to be as deep as it seemed to be striving to be.


Risk a paper cut? If you're dying for something dying to make you cry, try it.


To buy: Amazon

Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop #8

Whew. Friday again! What a relief, eh? It's been a good week already. If you haven't seen, I'm having my 100 follower giveaway here, so go enter! I'm giving away ARCs from Anna Carey, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tahereh Mafi, plus a signed book by Holly Black. Isn't that worth your time? :)

Anyways, Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee each week and is a joint effort between all of us bloggers to get more followers. Plus, each week a different question is asked, and I get to answer it! So here goes:

Q. If you change the ending to any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?
ME. I remember reading The Sweet Far Thing quite a few years ago, and being completely upset with the ending. Now, if you haven't read Libba Bray's series, you obviously won't know what I'm talking about, but I don't want to actually spoil it here... If you've read it, you know what I mean. KARTIK!!! I don't know what I'd change it to, but I'd definitely change it. I cried.

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly par-tay for book bloggers to connect! It's hosted by Crazy for Books (follow that link to get to this week's Blogger Hop post!) and lasts Friday through Monday every week! And we get another exciting question, here goes:

Q. What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season?ME. Ohhhh, for sure just the weather. I'm from south Mississippi, and go to school in the middle of Alabama, so it's almost always hot here. In the fall we get some really lovely not so hot weather that I adore. That is what I always look forward to, not sweating my brains out every time I walk outside. :)
So... All the fun is done! Please go check out my giveaway (it's international!!!) and have a great weekend! :)

The "I'm So Excited About Having 100 Followers That I'm Giving You Free Stuff" Giveaway!

Yes. I have, by some miracle, reached 100 followers! And I'm excited. In my excitement, I have things to give you guys because you're wonderful. Lots of things. Too many things, really, to make my wallet happy. But I don't care!


THE PRIZES:

Yes, those are them! Pretty bedspread, eh? :)

Prizes:

A signed hardcover copy of White Cat by Holly Black

An ARC of Eve by Anna Carey
An ARC of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (sorry, not the version with cover art)
An ARC of The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

Sound good??

Legit.

Rules:

1. You must be at least 13 years old to enter.
2. You do NOT need to be a follower to enter.
3. Giveaway is open to US and international entrants.
4. So, basically, there aren't any rules. Just don't lie, guys. That's all I ask.

How to earn entries:

• For 1 entry each:
• ENTER!
• Follow the blog
• Follow @cutsofpaper on Twitter
• Once daily, Tweet about the giveaway
• For 2 entries each:
• Be an old follower (I will be keeping up with this.)
• "Like" Paper Cuts on Facebook (the link is to the right!)

The giveaway runs for the next two weeks, from September 1st to the 15th. To clarify, you either get the +1 for being a new follower OR +2 for being an old follower, not both. And I think that's it! If you have absolutely any questions (since I can be confusing/confused at times) don't hesitate to ask me here in the comments or email me.

EDIT: You guys have been so awesome just in a few hours... So, if somehow I reach 150 followers while this giveaway is still going on, I will add a couple more pretty awesome prizes. I thought I was going to keep them for myself, but... You guys are just too cool for that. :) :) I'm not telling what they are though!!!