Bookish Brina

I will gladly listen for hours.

Ever read a series that consumes you, in a ‘Kids, let’s order a pizza because I’m not putting this book down kind of way?  Yeah, that’s Bloodlines.   I can’t get enough of Sydney and Adrian (especially Adrian).   The series just keeps getting better. 

Warning- Spoiler if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series- In The Fiery Heart, Sydney is captured by the Alchemists and sent for re-education because of her relationship with Adrian.   (And told her dad she’s let Adrian do everything to her.  Best moment ever!) She has made the grave mistake of treating the moroi as equals.  In Silver Shadows we find out exactly what happens in these re-education centers.  Can Adrian save her before they brainwash her? 

Loved this book, and cannot wait for # 6, even though I know it will be the last.  I hope another spinoff series is in the works because it’s such an exciting world to live in.  Adrian can be so funny but also pull off romance like no one else.   He’s at the top of my book boyfriend list!  

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read Virgin through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie is certain she is the only virgin in college.  Except for one disastrous moment in high school, she hasn’t even had a chance to lose it.  Ellie is obsessed with losing it and entering womanhood; then she could actually participate in conversations with the other girls.  It doesn’t have to be anyone special.  A one night stand would work just fine as long as she fancied him a little.   So Ellie’s quest begins. 

Ellie’s inner voice is hilarious; her thoughts are completely uncensored and it’s easy to relate with her.   I’m not going to say if Ellie finally does the deed because that would be spoiling the book, but I did wish for a different ending for her.  That’s why I gave it three stars.  I do recommend for a good laugh.  This girl gets herself in some interesting situations!   

You're welcome. 

A quick and easy one this time.  Changing the colour of your sidebar.  As always this is done in template one (default).

So, sometimes the background you choose may look great as an overall image, but your links, shelves etc in your sidebar can become lost in the busy-ness of it all.  Or maybe you have a plain colour background like I do but want a bit of contrast for your sidebar. Either way, it's a quick fix.

<

Look what my nice mail person delivered!  I read Dusty when it was a fanfic, and I can't wait to read as the published version. This story is one clusterfuck of emotion, and I loved every second of it.  Yes Mary, love this monster I do!

With a life that is completely consumed by illegal business deals and general shadiness, Edward is lonely.  He wants someone in his life, a girl who will always be available for sex, no matter what.  He decides the only way he can make this happen is to buy a sex slave. 

The transaction is an expensive but simple one; pick his requirements and a girl will be ready who meets these needs.  He wasn't expecting to feel guilty when he brings his new slave, Bella, home. 

I had a difficult time with this one; usually I love anything written by Savage.  Although there are definitely good moments, the beginning bothered me.  More than I expected, and that feeling sat with me throughout the story.  I can’t really explain it without giving the story away but it wasn't what I expected.  I’m disappointed. 

First I want to thank the publisher for allowing me to read Branded through Netgalley!

Branded is not another dystopian YA novel. I loved the world that the authors have created. Imagine the end of our society, and a madman has taken over. He runs ‘The Hole’, a place where people who have been accused of committing sins is sent. There is no trial; no chance to plead your case- just one accusation and your life is an instant nightmare. The accused are branded, the color of your brand is dependent on the sin you are guilty of.

Lexi is one of these accused- ripped from her home and branded with blue, the color of lust. Finding herself in the hole, she must survive while being constantly guarded by Cole, who has been assigned to keep her alive.

Branded is a book with constant action. I enjoyed living as Lexi, a tough girl who survives when most would fail. Some of the decisions she and Cole make and get away with confused me, but I enjoyed the ending and understand why things happened the way they did. My only issue is the timeline. I have no idea how much time passed in this book. Months? It didn’t really say.
I was bummed that I couldn’t find a release date for book 2 and I really hope it will be written. Lexi and Cole have so much left to do, and I can’t wait to jump back in to their world!

I have been the laziest reader these past couple of weeks.  I had been going for walks on my breaks at work to enjoy the sunshine and get some exercise, so that’s really cut into my reading time.  Then a couple of weeks ago while just starting my walk, tripped, and broke a bone in my foot.  Crutches have slowed me down, which you would think would give me lots of time to read, but it’s just made me super slow getting things done.  I am frustrated and have had a hard time concentrating.  I haven’t given up on my bookreads reviews; real life has just gotten in the way temporarily.  I am really looking forward to things getting back to normal!!  I have to be in a walking boot for about 6 weeks, but hopefully I’ll be walking in 2 or 3 and will have more time to relax with my books.  

(It was not this graceful)

There are quite a few tutorials on how to change the layout of your BookLikes blog. I figured it's good to have them all in one post, and I'd like to thank all who put a lot of work into making them so others can enjoy BookLikes. 

Let's start with the customization blogs posted by BookLikes: 

• Edit Your Design Theme With HTML on BookLikes 
• Your Blog on BookLikes - Custom-Made

Tutorials made by BookLikers for BookLikers: 

• Litchick's Easy Tips for Customization
• Litchick's How to Change Your Followers/Following to Something Fun
• AnHeC's How to Move/change your Followers/Following conters
• Jane's How to Customize your BookLikes Blog using CSS
• Jane's Customizing your BookLikes Blog Pt.2
• ThreeRs' Blog about Fonts
• AnHeC's How to change font colour (text, link, comment section)
• AnHeC's Background for Search Bar
• AnHeC's How to add the Reading Challenge Widget to your sidebar and customize it
• Little Knitter's How to avoid losing the original source of a post you want to reblog

Note: All links open in a new window and take you to the original posts and their creators. Leave comments, likes and reblog the hell out of them so others can see it too :) 

** I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Per Author-  “Abbie Harper dies just before her eighteenth birthday. It has happened before, more times than she can remember — and always at the hands of the same man. Her dreams are plagued with past lives, cut short.

But this latest dream feels different. Her past life as Penelope Broadhurst — an English pastor’s daughter in 1806 — keeps bleeding into her present life in ways both sinister and familiar. As Penelope meets and falls in love with the dashing Heath Lockwood, so too does Abbie meet the brothers Marcus and Rem Knight. One wants to love her; the other to kill her.

Time is running out for Penelope, but as Abbie mourns her inability to change the past, she chases the slim chance to save her future. To survive, she must solve the puzzle of an ancient love story…and Penelope just might be able to help.”

I was pleasantly surprised with Time After Time.  Abbie is a strong girl, much stronger than I would be if someone were trying to kill me, especially after re-living my past murders at night while asleep.  When at work, I was anxious for breaks so I could read a little more, and stayed up way too late one night to finish.   I was surprised by the ending and the things Abbie discovers about herself.  Definitely worth reading, and I really hope to see more from Wendy Godding!  A book about the Broadhurst family without Penelope would be really interesting, hint, hint….  

The Book pages have been released recently and now we’re happy to present the new features on BookLikes which will improve the process of book shelving and reviewing. Today we’ve added the Other Editions page where you can find a desirable book edition, add it to your bookshelf and write a post straight from the editions page.

To enter the Other Editions page, go to a book page and click the Other Editions headline on the right.

The Other Editions Page allows you to choose which editions to shelve (you can choose more than one) and write a post straight from the other editions page. 

To remove a given edition from your Shelf, go to a Book Page, click the cover and choose "Remove from Shelf", then go to the Other Editions page and choose a desirable book edition. The "Remove from Shelf" option will be also available on the Other Editions pages shortly.

If the edition isn't there, you can add one. To add new edition to a given title click "Add new editions" on the Other Editions page.

Important update: The Other Editions page is excellent for shelving new books or changing the book edition on your shelf but it will not switch the book edition in your review.

However, we're in the middle of works on a tool which will help you to change the edition both on your shelf and in the blog review that got mixed up during the most recent redesign. Sorry for any inconvenience, we'll release it as soon as possible, really really soon.

Tips

1. Tags

To search posts published by other BookLikes members and via Tags, use the search box on the top. Choose Tags in the search results box:

or on the search result page:

And discover posts by BookLikes Community with a given tag:

2. Missing covers & more updates

You can add the missing book covers to the books with the green covers. The ability to change the existing cover image will be added along with the book moderators options. 

We're improving BL book database all the time, adding new book covers and new editions. Here are some of the upcoming new options that we're working on: 

- advanced shelving options on book pages;

- BookLikes Community reviews page;

- book moderators and book info edition;

and more so stay tuned :)

** I received this novella through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I was pretty excited to get another view inside the mind of hot tattoo artist Chris, Hayden's co-worker and friend.  Chris might look super tough, but inside he is such a sweetie! In Cracks in the Armor, he is still trying to win the heart of beautiful Sarah.  She has some issues to deal with;  mainly with her job as waitress at the strip club The Dollhouse.   Will Chris be able to convince her to give him her whole heart?

This is a great story, but extremely short. But I discovered something really exciting... This is a prequel to a full length novel Helena is writing about Chris! I thought when I began that this would be the end of the CW&IA story, and I actually thought this would be an epilogue for Tenley and Hayden. I am so excited that she is continuing to write! 

Without any sort of release date mentioned, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go insane. I can't wait!!

Mia and her best friends have just graduated from college and decide to have one last fun weekend before facing the real world.    What better idea than a girl’s trip to Vegas?  When Mia meets the ridiculously attractive Ansel Guillaume, things get VERY interesting.  And when Ansel makes her an unbelievable offer, she has to make a decision that could change her entire future. 

I LOVED this book!  Sweet Filthy Boy is one of those stories that you just can’t stop thinking about.  I actually enjoyed this one more than Beautiful Bastard.  Ansel is the perfect fictional boyfriend.  He is so sweet and funny, but sexy as hell at the same time.  Living vicariously through Mia has been the best time I’ve had in quite a while.  I can’t wait for the next in the series!