TSS/Suddenly Sunday: Week-In-Review

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back to Svea's blog.

After a rather slow and quiet week last week, I got back into regular blogging with a few reviews and other posts this week, managing to post something every day. I've been doing LOTS of reading lately, much more than I had thought I would be and I still haven't gotten burned out on it! I think it helps that I try to mix up the kinds of books I read so I don't get into a rut with a particular genre. But as of Friday, I am actually halfway through with my 2013 Reading Challenge!

I'm still a little surprised, myself, when I see those numbers! :-)

But in case you missed anything at Melissa's Bookshelf this week, here's a round-up of what went down...

I reviewed four books books:

• Dark Triumph by R.L. Lafevers (3 stars, YA paranormal historical fiction)
• Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer (4 stars, Mystery)
• Don't Fear The Reaper by Michelle Muto (4 stars, YA paranormal)
• To Win Her Heart by Karen Whitemeyer (5 stars, Christian historical fiction)

For Teaser Tuesdays, I shared a passage from The Inconvenient Duchess by Christine Merrill, a Harlequin romance that I don't plan to review here at the blog, but as I noted on Goodreads, it was better than I expected! I may add more to that review down the road.

This week I wrote a Thursday Thoughts post, since the prompt for Booking Through Thursday wasn't really up my alley this time. I may do that from time to time instead of always participating in BTT... (Random aside, does anyone else remember the Thursday Thunks meme? I really miss that!) Anyway, for Thursday Thoughts, I mused a bit about no longer accepting books for review. And the reason why that has come up again for me is because of a certain negative review that I am putting off writing even at this very moment by scheduling this post instead, haha.

And last but not least, yesterday I shared some pictures from this year's Spring planting efforts around our patio for Saturday Snapshot.

I'm expecting the coming week to be another good one. As I write this (Friday afternoon), I've got three reviews to write and schedule, my Teaser Tuesdays post is already waiting to go live, and I'm sure I'll have some pictures lined up for Saturday Snapshot again. So, I guess I'd better get cracking on these reviews now... Hope everyone has a great day and enjoys what is left of the weekend!

Suddenly Sunday/TSS: Happy Easter W-I-R

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back to Svea's blog.

Well, this week has not been as productive from a reading standpoint as I would normally like. I've been working on one book, Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer, all week. All of my "free" hours have been consumed with getting some data entry done for work that needs to be done by tonight. I still have a ways to go, so I will be working several more hours today and I am extremely unhappy about missing church on Easter Sunday this morning. But I'm not going to vent about the work situation here, just get done what needs to be done...

This week on the blog, I started out by finishing up Bloggiesta, which was last weekend. You can view one of my mini-challenge round-ups and my Finish Line post, where I summarize how productive my weekend was!

On Monday I completed my very last mini-challenge for Bloggiesta with a Getting to Know You Post about Jen @ The Relentless Reader! She writes a new-to-me blog and I'm so glad I found her thanks to Bloggiesta!

For Teaser Tuesdays, I shared a teaser from Behold, Here's Poison. (Here's hoping that I'm not sharing a teaser from the same book this upcoming Tuesday, sheesh!)

On Wednesday, I actually posted a book review, lol. I gave 5 stars to My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade.

For Booking Through Thursday, we had an interesting prompt that garnered some discussion on my post: Do you think books should have content ratings like movies and video games?

On Friday, because I hadn't finished a book to review, I decided to write a post about my feed reader dilemma now that Google Reader is going away. Read why I changed my mind and chose Feedly over Bloglovin' (after having committed to Bloglovin' during Bloggiesta). There were also some great comments from other bloggers about Bloglovin', Feedly, and some other readers, so be sure to check it out if you still haven't made up your mind over a replacement for GR once it goes away!

And yesterday I shared another week of the March Bookish Photo Challenges. I don't think I'm planning to participate in more than one Photo challenge in April (I did three this month), but we will see if I can hold myself to that. Three kind of burned me out, though...

Well, that's it for now. Another great week on the blog, and with this post, I managed to have at least one post every day this month! (And no, I'm not planning on trying to keep that up for April, but we will see if it happens naturally, lol.)

And now I'm off to get my sweet girl dressed for church and let her find her Easter basket!

Happy Sunday, Happy Easter, and Happy Reading!

Suddenly Sunday / TSS: Week-In-Review

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back to Svea's blog.

This week has been busy on all fronts for me -- except for the home front, I suppose -- since I was out of town Monday through Thursday for a trade show in Orlando. I actually found more time for reading than I expected, though not all books will be reviewed here. (I don't typically review general romance books on this blog, and I did read a couple on the plane trips and at the hotel. However, I am writing brief reviews on Goodreads for those two particular books.) Somehow, I managed to keep up with all three of my daily photo challenges that I'm participating in this month, despite everything that was going on. And once again, I had a post every day last week! My goal is to finish out the month with a post every day and then hopefully I won't keep pressuring myself to meet that same goal every month, haha. Anyway, here is my round-up in case you missed anything this week!

This week I again posted three reviews on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:

~ Mystery Mondays: After The Funeral by Agatha Christie (4 stars, Mystery)
~ The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (5 stars, YA Paranormal)
~ Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer (5 stars, Christian Historical Fiction)

My Teaser Tuesday post shared a couple of sentences from The Scorpio Races, as well.

This week's Booking Through Thursday prompt was about our first read of Spring. I plan to have the review up in time tomorrow for another Mystery Mondays post.

And for Saturday Snapshot yesterday, I shared all of the photos I have been taking for #BSMPhotoaday and #EstellaGram.

Of course, on Friday night, I discovered that this weekend is Bloggiesta! I love this weekend that is devoted to blog improvement and meeting new-to-me bloggers. So this weekend, I am doubling up on blog posts each day -- something I don't usually do -- but I want to devote some time to Bloggiesta. Yesterday I posted a mini-challenge round-up of three challenges that I either participated in directly or simply want to promote. This afternoon, I'll have my second mini-challenge round-up posted. You know, normally I feel like it's overkill to have more than one post per day on my blog, but it really was necessary to make an exception in order to participate in Bloggiesta this weekend. What about you? Do any bloggers out there post more than once a day on a regular basis? Do you think it matters?

In general reading news, I'm still keeping a nice steady pace to meet my Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge goal of 100 books. I've already read 38 books, which is 16 ahead of schedule -- I have managed to gain about two books since February!

Additionally, I have now read nine books towards the #TakeControl March 2013 TBR Challenge hosted by Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. I'm hoping to finish March having read and reviewed 12 books for the challenge, so that means I'll need to read and review three more books this week... I have to confess that Bloggiesta may keep me from reaching that goal, but we will see. I haven't even started the newest book I currently claim (via Goodreads) to be reading, Behold, Here's Poison, by Georgette Heyer.

Hope everyone enjoys what is left of the weekend -- why do they always go by so quickly?! Happy Reading!

Suddenly Sunday/Sunday Salon:Happy St. Patty's Day!

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back here.

While I'm not Irish, nor do I even drink, haha, I am wearing my green today and wish all of you a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Miss Laura is rocking her little "Glam Rock" tee today, as well:

I had another full week on the blog -- I am truly amazed that I have been able to get a post up every day this month (so far)! I have been doing my best to schedule out reviews and other posts in advance whenever possible... I may run into a snag this upcoming week, though, as I am going to be traveling for work for a few days. I leave Monday morning and get back home late Thursday night. I do have a review scheduled for Monday, as well as my Teaser Tuesday post, and today I'll be writing up a review to schedule for Wednesday, but as of now Thursday's post is up in the air. I normally would participate in Booking Through Thursday, but I am not sure if I'll have the opportunity to check in and see what the prompt is while I'm down at a trade show in Orlando. We will see -- maybe I will have enough time in the morning before the show starts or will have time to kill at the airport while waiting for my flight back! One thing that is sure to suffer is my ability to comment on other blog posts while I am gone...

Here's a quick recap of the week's posts for those of you who may have missed any of them:

I shared three reviews on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:
~ The Destined Queen by Deborah Hale (Fantasy, 4 stars)
~ Safe in His Arms by Colleen Coble (Christian Historical Fiction, 4 stars)
~ Awaken by Sarah M. Ross (YA Paranormal, 4 stars)

My Teaser Tuesday post was from After The Funeral by Agatha Christie. The review is scheduled for tomorrow -- the return of Mystery Mondays!

For Booking Through Thursday, we talked about "mood reading."

And yesterday's Saturday Snapshot post was another round-up of the Bookish Photo-a-Day challenges I have been participating in this month. Those will be tough to keep up with, as well, this upcoming week, but I will do my best! (I even set reminders on my phone, LOL.)

I hope you all have a great week and I look forward to catching up with you again next Sunday! Happy Reading!

Suddenly Sunday/Sunday Salon:Indie Author Event!

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back here.

Last week I talked plenty about what's been going on at my blog, so today I'm going to gab about the fun event I got to go to this afternoon!

Today I was lucky enough to attend an indie author Meet & Mingle at Copper Coin Coffee in Woodstock, GA. If you've been by the blog lately, you've probably seen me mention it a time or two in reviews and other posts. :-) Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures while I was there -- I know, what was I thinking?! Perhaps I didn't want to go completely fangirl on everyone, haha! I had such a great time chatting with everyone that I didn't want to keep other people from enjoying the same opportunity. But it was such an awesome format, very informal and friendly -- seriously the best book signing I've been able to go to! And well, I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty fun to hear, "You're not just Melissa, you're Melissa's Bookshelf!" I just wish I'd been able to attend both days of the event, but I left the coffee shop today feeling like I had made four new friends!

I'd like to extend a HUGE thank you to Into The Night Reviews and Literati Literature Lovers for hosting such a fantastic event -- especially so close to home for me! Between working from home and spending time with my daughter, I probably don't get out as much as I should and it is difficult to go to most of the events I hear about that tend to be farther away, so today was a real treat!

Who did I get to meet? (BTW, you can click on their names below to visit their websites and learn more.)

~ Nichole Chase, author of The Dark Betrayal trilogy, Flukes, which I've reviewed here, On Christmas Hill (short story), and the soon-to-be-released Suddenly Royal, which I preordered today! Be sure to visit her website to learn more about her books.

~ S.R. Johannes, whose book, Untraceable, I reviewed earlier this week. I plan to read the second book in this series, Uncontrollable, soon -- got my signed copy today, of course! The third book will be out this summer, can't wait! She's also written several other books -- you can see the complete list on her website.

~ Michelle Muto, author of three books, including The Book of Lost Souls, which I reviewed recently. For more information about her other books, including her very popular horror title, The Haunting Season, please visit her website. I just picked that one up today and look forward to reading it soon!

~ Sarah M. Ross, who has written Awaken, the first of her Patronus series, and for which I have been totally remiss in writing a review! But suffice it to say if you are looking for a fresh take on angels and demons, you should definitely give this series a try. Ross has also written several other titles you can see on her site.

I was so lucky to get to spend quite a bit of time chatting with all four of them -- they were all so friendly and gracious, and each had interesting stories to tell. I hope you'll take a look at some of their titles -- many are available for a bargain price in eBook format, which is a great way to give them a try! I have so much respect for independent authors -- theirs is not an easy path to travel, but the passion these ladies all have for their work is undeniable! Thank you to all of you for taking the time to chat with me and share a little about yourselves and your passion for writing!!

While I didn't take any pictures of the event, I will leave you witha  picture of all the signed books I picked up and the swag I got! :-) Yep, in addition to some books I've already read, I just added some more books to that ever-growing TBR pile!

What about you? Have you gotten to go to any fun bookish events or book signings recently?

The Sunday Salon: Reading, Challenges, & More

Happy Sunday, everyone! It's hard to believe another weekend is winding down and another work-week is getting ready to start! It may be even more difficult to believe that we are already in the month of March!

Do any of you set your annual Reading Challenge over at Goodreads? Last year, I got into the reading swing a little late in the game and just missed my goal of 100 books read with 91 completed in 2012. So, this year I decided to set the same goal -- 100 books read by the end of the year. If January and February are any indication of how the rest of the year will go, I should well exceed that goal! But I don't want to get TOO ahead of myself... Here's where I am as we begin March:

Now admittedly, I fully expect March and April to be slower reading months because of some other commitments I have lined up. So it may be that getting off to such a fast start is what I needed to do to reach 100 books this year. Time will tell.

In other "Challenges News," I have signed up to participate in the "Take Control of your TBR Pile" Challenge that takes place all month.  That is actually what I am trying to do all year, with a few new releases thrown in for series that I am keeping up with. But this month, I'm taking it a step further than the challenge, because my goal is to only read books that I've had listed on my TBR lists over at Goodreads (books owned and eBooks owned). We'll see how many I can get through -- should be interesting since I'm not expecting to have a heavy reading month. But even if I read just a handful of books this month, if every book is a TBR book, I will be happy!

Two other bookish challenges that should also appeal to all you Photo-A-Day challenge junkies are the book-themed Photo A Day Challenges that are being hosted at The Estella Society (#EstellaGram) and Book Soulmates (#BSMPhotoaday). Be sure to check it out and join in the fun -- it's okay to start late -- using the indicated hashtags to tag your photos. I already participate in the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge, so we will see if I can keep up with THREE this month!

If you haven't dropped by the blog lately (for those of you reading this via a feed reader), I did a lot of Spring Cleaning a couple of weeks ago. I hated my sidebars -- they just seemed junky and not very useful. Now, I still have plenty going on in those sidebars, but I find them to be MUCH more functional and better-looking (but that could just be me). Here's what I decided to do to spruce things up:

• I moved my Blogroll and Blog buttons to a page that you can link to from the top navigation bar, conveniently titled "BLOGROLL." With buttons of all shapes and sizes, it's tough to make that page pretty, but I've been working on it. :-)
• I got rid of the label cloud. I loved it in the beginning but hated it over time. Instead I created "buttons" that link to labels that I felt were the most important, ie. genres and paranormal character types (vampires, werewolves, etc.) since I read a lot of Paranormal books. I also left a short list of other useful labels to navigate my posts. And for the heck of it, I linked up my daily themed posts (Sunday Salon, Teaser Tuesdays, etc.) with images in the sidebar, as well.
• Now, everything in the right sidebar is devoted to navigating my blog, seeing what I'm reading and how I'm doing in my challenges, along with any important posts I want to highlight. Nearly everything in the left sidebar is related to me: my grab button, social networking, my favorite series graphics. I did keep my blog archive over there just to have some kind of navigation from that side, haha.
• If you haven't been able to tell, I have become obsessed with Goodreads this year. I am in love with cataloging my books over there, no joke! I don't go crazy with labeling/shelving -- in fact, beyond designating TBR books, I only use the default "to read," "currently reading," and "read" labels. One of my favorite widgets I found to go in my sidebar is the one that displays a shelf of your choice. Hello, "Currently Reading"! Now instead of manually updating a picture of a book cover in the sidebar, I am letting Goodreads do all the work. (Don't tell me how behind the times I am, LOL. But for me, it was life-changing!)
• One other thing I did... I learned how to add "infinite scroll" to my blog... No more "Older Posts" and "Newer Posts" links! Personally, I hated those, so I hope all of you who visit are pleased by the change!

I'm now in the process of changing up the look & feel of my review posts and other posts. For awhile, I was copying/pasting the code from Goodreads to my blog posts, but that doesn't really work very well if I want to schedule out posts. It rather defeats the purpose of having a blog if my review is going to be out on Goodreads for all to read long before it shows up here! So I have gone back to something very similar to my old review format, just made it prettier... I find I am loving the "quote" feature in Blogger -- how was I not aware of its awesomeness until just recently?! Somehow I feel like it makes my posts much more "eye-catching" and even more professional-looking, if that makes any sense. That may not be important to you, but it is to me! Something else I discovered and have just started using in my review posts (and may start using with other posts about specific titles): Goodreads has a widget that lets you add a book to your shelves right from my posts! I just set it up with the title I'm reviewing, pop it into my post, and voila! Now, if you aren't using Goodreads, I'm sure you couldn't care less, but I know I love coming across that on other sites when I am reading about new books that I'm interested in... (I told you I've become obsessed with Goodreads!)

All of this work on cleaning up the blog has gone great lengths to re-energizing my blogging. Well, that and Goodreads, and the fact that I no longer pressure myself to review Every. Single. Book. I read, nor do I take up many review books anymore. All of the sudden I have found new life in reading and sharing about it here! I only hope I'm not setting myself up for a crash and burn later this year! ;-)

Well, I ended up rambling along more than I originally planned... If you made it all the way through to this point, here's a virtual cookie for you! Happy Reading and see you next Sunday!

The Sunday Salon: Review: Heiress

Heiress by Susan May Warren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Happy Sunday, fellow Saloners! I really must get back into the habit of writing a true Sunday Salon post, but this week I will test the waters with a simple book review...

I had a very difficult time deciding how to rate Heiress by Susan May Warren. I read it practically within one sitting and was desperate to know how it ended. But in reality, that desperation stemmed from just wanting to get it over with and be able to move on. I liked the story--sort of--but good lord, if not for the scattered references to God and the Bible, you almost wouldn't know Heiress is considered Christian fiction--it reads just like a soap opera and is filled with scandal!

Seriously, I was worn out by the time I finished this book. While certainly captivating, it was rather draining to read and the desire to finish it wasn't due to pure, unadulterated enjoyment on my part. Oh, there were aspects I liked and I did enjoy Esme's character... but I simply needed the drama to be over and really, I wasn't feeling terribly inspired by the end of it, like I do with most Christian/Inspirational Fiction. The fact that Warren had me hooked from the first page of the book is the only reason I feel I can rate this fairly at 3 stars. Certainly, her writing is good, as is her storytelling, but (at least, for me) that just couldn't make up for the way the story actually made me feel by the end of it... a little horrified, exhausted, and even rather down.

I expect that most readers who enjoy Christian fiction that is edgier and not so preachy will probably like this series, but I'm don't think I'm even going to be able to bring myself to read the second book, which I already happen to have because it was a great deal on Amazon for the Kindle. I hate to pass up reading a book I've bought -- it feels a bit like throwing away food that someone else could eat -- but at least I didn't spend a lot on it!

*Review originally posted at Goodreads. View all my reviews

Next week I'll try to write something more about my recent reading habits/trends, in general. Since I'm off to a pretty good start in 2013, having already finished 27 books (I'm pretty shocked by that number, myself, honestly), I ought to be able to come up with a little something! :-) Happy Reading!

Sunday Salon: Blog Buttons - Pointless?

Happy Sunday, everyone! This is yet another scheduled post while I am on vacation with very limited access to the Internet. This is a bit of a musings post, I guess -- about something I've pondered off and on lately... is there any point to having a blog button to "advertise" your brand? I'm not really going to argue the case for or against, this is more an observational rambling, if you will.

Yes, I do have a blog button -- a shiny new one that came with my blog redesign. I also had one that I had made to go with my old blog theme because personally, I like the idea of sharing blog buttons. Almost all of the blogs out there that have been professionally designed have buttons and a few intrepid folks have made their own, as well.

But...

Yes, there's a but...

I almost never see blog buttons posted on other bloggers' sites. At least, that is how I feel when I browse the various blogs I follow. And no, I don't mean my button -- I mean ANY blog buttons.

This all came up because I have been debating how to share all of the blog buttons I have grabbed. In the "research" for this post, I actually made sure that I had a blog button represented for every blog in my blogroll that actually had a blog button. In the last few months, though, I have wondered if my scrolling list of buttons is very effective and have thought about creating a page that would link from my menu bar with all the book blog buttons I've grabbed. But then I thought people might not bother going to look at that.

Ever since I began blogging and keeping up with other blogs, I have wanted to link all the blogs I follow on my blog. Call it a sign of solidarity, I don't know. I just know that when I visit other blogs, I often look to see what blogs they keep up with that I have yet to have heard of.

So the numbers nerd in me decided to conduct some informal research of the book blogs in my blogroll. {Aside: This also gave me a great opportunity to clean up the blogroll and remove various blogs that disappeared.} I did limit it strictly to book blogs -- no author blogs or personal blogs. I went through EVERY one of those blogs (166 of them!) and looked to see (1) did they have a blog button, (2) did they post other people's blog buttons, and (3) did they have some sort of blog roll list? I guess I wanted some kind of "proof" to back up my theory that while a pretty fair number of bloggers have blog buttons, very few bloggers actually share other blogs' buttons. And guess what, I was pretty much right...

Really, I think I just wanted an excuse to display pie charts on my blog :-D

As you can see, just over more than a third of the blogs I researched have buttons up for grabs. However, only about 10% of all the blogs actually shared any blog buttons besides their own. Blogrolls were much more prevalent, with just over half of the blogs displaying blogrolls either in their sidebar or on a separate page linked from their header. Actually, I would have expected this percentage to be higher. Now, I didn't get into any fancy analysis beyond this with any overlapping data -- I was really just curious about the big picture.

And I really am not suggesting that there is a right or wrong answer when it comes to linking to other blogs. I admit I would have expected more blogs that have their own buttons to display buttons from other blogs, but obviously that isn't the case. I still haven't decided what to do about my own blogroll and blog buttons. The blogroll takes up quite a bit of space on my left sidebar and the scrolling space for the buttons really isn't able to do all of those buttons justice...

In the end, with so few "grab" buttons actually finding their way onto other blogs, I have to wonder if it is really worth it to have one? (Not that I wouldn't be happy for you to go over and grab mine from the sidebar, LOL.)

Well, I've rambled on about this enough. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. If I were to move my blogroll and create a page for blog buttons, do you think it would still be effective? Do you like to link to other blogs and if so, what's your preferred method?

The Sunday Salon: Pride & Prejudice (1995 TV Mini-Series)

So, Friday and Saturday this week, while my husband was at work, I felt the need to watch the A&E/BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It had been a few years since I last watched it and I just needed some Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in my life again!

I know that the more recent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley (and I'm afraid I don't remember anyone else) is quite popular, but it just didn't resonate with me the way the BBC mini-series did. The mini-series just feels so much more real to me and despite the fact that it is a good five hours long, if I actually have that much time available, I could sit and watch the entire thing straight through. In fact, that is nearly what I did Friday night when my husband worked late, but after unwinding a bit after work, he came up to go to bed so I had to wait and finish the last 45 minutes yesterday. Between the characters, the story itself, and the fantastic musical score, I just don't want the movie to ever end!

I think I probably watch the whole movie with a grin on my face, too. The characters are just superb and highly entertaining -- the cast was just perfect, in my opinion. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett (Benjamin Whitrow and Alison Steadman) are so opposite one another... She is unbelievably silly, suffers from her "nerves", and can't maintain the same opinion for more than five minutes, while he is sensible and calm -- not to mention very dry and witty. His lines are some of the most humours in the film with perfect delivery and timing. Whitrow also portrays Mr. Bennett's weaknesses of character quite well.

Jane and Elizabeth Bennett are aptly cast, as well, though I must admit I find Jennifer Ehle (Lizzie) to be more beautiful than Susannah Harker (Jane), when it should be the other way around according to the story. Of course, it's all a matter of opinion, anyway, and Harker's looks probably were more true to what was considered beautiful at that time. And their three younger sisters are silly as can be, as well -- their house is quite often in some kind of uproar with the crazy antics of those girls and Mrs. Bennett.

But oh, Mr. Darcy -- particularly Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. I honestly think Firth was the perfect Darcy. He is the epitome of what I think Darcy was like -- really, he does a remarkable job acting the part, not to mention he is quite handsome. (Aside: if you haven't seen The King's Speech, you really must -- Firth is excellent in that as well, as King George.) Not only does Firth deliver Darcy's lines just right (both the early stiff, cold mannerisms and the later passionate, warmer feelings of a man in love), you can see he is completely in character by watching his eyes and their expression, as well. Seriously, Colin Firth is Darcy and always will be for me.

There are a host of other lively and quirky characters, as well. Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) is a nice young man and indeed perfect for Jane, though he is not really a scene-stealer. Quirky characters who are scene-stealers when their times come are Mr. Collins (David Bamber), a man of the cloth and cousin to the Bennetts to whom their property is entailed, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), patroness of Mr. Collins and uncle to Mr. Darcy. Their parts are not prominent, but oh, are those actors just perfect in their roles! Truly, I feel like I am watching the characters in the story and not the actors who portray them, so well-suited to their parts are the members of this cast.

When I watch this movie, I am complete transported into this little world that Jane Austen created, but frankly, I would rather watch it any day than actually read her book. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it well enough, but I just find this TV mini-series adaptation to have more life to it. Austen's writing has never moved me the way it has her true fans. This is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time that I can watch over and over without tiring of it. If you like Pride and Prejudice but haven't watched the A&E/BBC mini-series, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

The Sunday Salon: Guest Post by Dusty Crabtree

Happy Sunday, everyone! I'm so excited to bring this guest post to you today. It has been quite awhile since I've had one on my blog and I'm hoping to be able to share them with you more regularly. Today, I'd like to welcome Dusty Crabtree, author of Shadow Eyes, which was released earlier this year in February. She will be sharing the inspiration behind her book, and it's not what you might think! Check out that beautiful, spooky cover! But enough from me...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Christian Horror Movie?
Inspiration Behind Shadow Eyes by Dusty Crabtree

Where did you come up with the idea?  What was your inspiration for the story?  Aren’t those the most commonly asked questions for writers?  Especially fantasy writers, since our plots are often so unique?  I guess it’s hard for most to believe that such creative and crazy ideas can just spring up out of nowhere inside our heads and that our muses can’t magically make the storyline unfold before our very eyes.

In truth, it doesn’t just come out of nowhere.  Even if there wasn’t some major thing that helped us come up with the full idea, there was a slow process, a series of ideas, that evolved over time, morphing and changing until they became the plot that makes up the novel.

For my young adult urban fantasy Shadow Eyes, the idea actually first came to me as a screenplay for a Christian horror movie, if there ever was such a genre.  The movie would have been about a cast of intertwined characters going about their lives and making mistakes with dark, creepy shadows (demons) hovering around them, whispering to them, and influencing them to do evil things. Only the audience would see the shadows.  The characters would be completely oblivious.  I could see it all in my head, and it was awesome!  But I had no idea how to write a screenplay.

A few years after I’d had that idea, my friend suggested I should write a novel like the paranormal angel books we’d been reading and loving.  I’d always loved the concept of angels and demons in stories and immediately thought back to that screenplay idea.  After realizing 3rd person omniscient was not a great narrator choice for a novel, I decided on a 1st person narrator, Iris, who had a special ability to see the shadows, as well as light figures (angels), but nobody else could.

As far as the rest of the plot - all the mysterious characters, the big mystery about what happened to Iris when she was 14 that first gave her the ability, and the details of her making mistakes and discovering who these characters were and, more importantly, who she was – it all just fell into place on an outline out my crazy, overly-creative, overly-stimulated mind.  Shadow Eyes, my pride and joy, my baby, is the result.

Shadow Eyes Synopsis:

Iris thought she could ignore the shadows...until they went after everyone she loved.

Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil.  But she is the only one who can see them.  She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier. 

Although she’s learned to cope, the view of her world begins to shift upon the arrival of three mysterious characters.  First, a handsome new teacher whose presence scares away shadows; second, a new friend with an awe-inspiring aura; and third, a mysterious and alluring new student whom Iris has a hard time resisting despite already having a boyfriend.

As the shadows invade and terrorize her own life and family, she must ultimately revisit the most horrific event of her life in order to learn her true identity and become the hero she was meant to be.

Dusty's Bio:

Dusty Crabtree has been a high school English teacher at Yukon High School in Oklahoma since 2006, a challenge she thoroughly enjoys. She is also a youth sponsor at Cherokee Hills Christian Church in Oklahoma City and feels very blessed with the amazing opportunities she has to develop meaningful relationships with teens on a daily basis.  Her passion for teens has poured into her writing as well.  She is the author of the young adult urban fantasy, Shadow Eyes, through Musa Publishing, which she wrote in order to give teens an intriguing and provocative book series that promotes moral messages.  She lives with her husband, Clayton, in Yukon, Oklahoma, where they often serve their community as foster parents.

More Goodies:

Check out Dusty’s blog at http://dustycrabtree.wordpress.com/
Find her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dusty.crabtree.1
Follow her on twitter at https://twitter.com/dustycrabtree
Buy Shadow Eyes at http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=176
(also available at all major online bookstores)
View the book trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7UP9A0Fm78

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Many thanks to Dusty for stopping by the blog to share the inspiration behind Shadow Eyes. I can't wait to share my review with all of you in the next day or two -- I'm right in the middle reading the book as you read this! EDIT: I stayed up until 2:00am last night (well, this morning, technically) to finish Shadow Eyes, so that should tell you something!

The Sunday Salon: Review: River Secrets

Title: River Secrets (The Books of Bayern #3)
Author: Shannon Hale
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pub Date: September 2006, Bloomsbury USA
Format: Paperback
Source: Received as a gift

Synopsis (from back cover)

Razo flipped around. No one there but a dead body. He could hear his own breathing. Think, Razo told himself. You're here, so be useful.

Razo has never been anything but ordinary. He's not very fast or tall or strong, so when he's invited to join an elite mission escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's great enemy he's sure it's only out of pity. But as Razo finds potential allies among the Tiran, including the beautiful Lady Dasha, he realizes it may be up to him to stop a murderer and get the Bayern army safely home again.

My Thoughts

While I enjoyed keeping up with Hale's world of Bayern in River Secrets, it was my least favorite of The Books of Bayern, so far. It took me longer to get interested in the story -- perhaps I prefer Hale's female leads or maybe Razo just wasn't a particularly likable male lead. I also felt the plot was a little weaker this time around, which I think caused the book to move a little bit slower. Without giving too much away, I rather wonder if the book had focused on Lady Dasha instead if it wouldn't have been a better story that could have seen more action and intrigue, given what we eventually learn about her. Perhaps Hale felt that not every main character should be a girl, but I wonder if she doesn't write a better story when her lead is a female.

Don't get me wrong, Razo is a nice kid, but boy does he lack self-confidence. He is self-pitying and puts himself down to others almost constantly, and frankly, that got annoying. I get that he is far from perfect, but it is like Hale took to blowing his flaws out of proportion for this story. In the last book, Razo's role as a scout did have a good bit of importance and it was obvious that his captain thought highly of those skills, so to say that he was practically worthless this time around felt a little forced and insincere. We do finally learn of some other valuable skills that Razo has, but that they would have gone unknown for this long seems unlikely.

It's funny, as I write this review and think back to all of these things that bothered me, I realize that while I was all set to give this book a four-star rating despite its flaws, I'm not sure it really deserves more than three stars. I still think it is a worthy read to keep up with this series, but it really lacks the power of the first two books. These are supposed to be fantasy stories, and by focusing on such an ordinary character in River Secrets, Hale has kept the reader from truly escaping into her world of Bayern. The story does finally pick up in the last third of the book, but that ultimately didn't make up for how long it took me to get to that point. Once you reach that last part of the book, you will understand why I think it would have been a better story had it focused on Lady Dasha.

Perhaps if I re-read this series down the road again sometime, I will feel differently. But given that I have had the luxury of reading all of these books back-to-back, I don't really think my opinion would change too much. As I already mentioned, I do think it is worth your time to read River Secrets to keep up with the series and events in Bayern -- at least, it is as of now. I have not yet begun Forest Born, so I can't say how the series concludes, but I do find it promising that the cover shows a girl -- Razo's sister Rin, in fact.

My rating:

The Sunday Salon (05.27.12): What do you like to read?

A couple of weeks ago I talked about reviews and asked all of you how you approached your reviews.  I received a lot of interesting comments and really appreciated the feedback and "discussion."

With my most recent read, I've started thinking about what kinds of books I enjoy reading and subsequently reviewing on this blog.  I'm sure you all are aware that the VAST majority of books I read are fiction, and more specifically, they are primarily YA, historical/Christian fiction, and mysteries.  Well, my current read is none of those.  I was lucky enough to receive a finished copy of Starting and Closing by John Smoltz from The William Morrow Marketing Group with Harper Collins.  As a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, I was interested to read more about Smoltz's career from his perspective, not to mention I knew my husband and father would likely be interested in this title, as well.

So in the past week, I dutifully began to read this book, knowing that it would also be a different kind of review for this blog.  Happily, it's an interesting read and Smoltz's personality shines through a lot in the pages.  However... I simply can't get "into" this book -- you know, just sit down and read it, or devour it, the way I do YA and other fiction in general.  And as I realized this was the case, I started thinking back to other nonfiction I have read.  I do own a handful of nonfiction books -- most of them biographical or political in nature.  And looking back, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it has always been this way with nonfiction for me.  It could be some of the most interesting subject matter possible, but I still take so much longer to read a work of nonfiction than any piece of fiction I've ever picked up.

My theory on this is pretty simple and not in the least revolutionary or groundbreaking.  I simply enjoy escapist reads.  That is what fiction does for me -- it provides an escape from the real world, chores, responsibilities, troubles, you name it.  And it's not as if my real world is any horrible place -- far from it, in fact.  But for me, there is something so exciting and ultimately satisfying about getting lost in a new world with new people for a few hours.  And I suspect that is why, if I actually had the time to do so, I could sit down with a work of fiction -- particularly in my favorite genres, and read the entire book in one sitting.  Of course, the likelihood of that happening anytime soon is nonexistent, but I still tend to devour those books much more quickly in the same amount of time.

What about you?  What makes you "tick" when it comes to a book?  Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? What genres do you gravitate towards?

As for me, I will probably continue to stick with my favorite fiction and try to throw in some nonfiction here and there for good measure.  And now it's time to continue working on my current nonfiction read so I can provide my review sometime in the near future.  I hope you all are enjoying the weekend -- particularly for those of us who have a long holiday weekend!

As always, happy reading... whatever you happen to like reading! :-)

The Sunday Salon (05.13.12): How do you review?

Happy Sunday, everyone! And perhaps most importantly, Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!  I hope you get lots of pampering today from your families. :-)

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my reviews -- everything from the general style on my blog, the way I approach writing them, and how I read to ultimately review a book.  I think this has come to mind in part because while I was on my big blogging hiatus, I continued to read books even though I wasn't writing reviews.  Now I would actually like to review a lot of them, but I didn't take any notes while I was reading, so I am not left with strong impressions that create a worthwhile review for many of these books.  Of course, there are some I do remember quite well and plan to review in the coming weeks, but I rather regret not taking some notes to stash away for reviews, even though I've never been a note-taking reader in the past.  I have been thinking that I might change my approach going forward and at least jot down a few thoughts either while I am reading or right after -- particularly because I am not necessarily reviewing books right after I read them these days, in order to catch up on reviews of older reads.

I have also been thinking about the content of my reviews here on the blog.  I tend to lean heavily towards writing about my overall impressions and how a book made me feel, more so than getting into some of the more technical aspects.  Of course, if I find something to be particularly bothersome or incredibly outstanding with respect to writing, plot, editing, etc., then I do generally make mention of it, but that doesn't seem to happen with regularity.  I also always do my best not to write "spoilerish" reviews, which I think creates the tendency for my reviews to really focus more on how a book made me feel.  Anyway, my point here really is that I think I'm going to strive for stronger content in my reviews, without making them too much longer.  I admit to being a fan of fairly concise reviews -- I don't like to drone on and on, whether it is to gush over a book or berate its weaknesses.  So I will probably continue to try to keep my thoughts to 3-4 paragraphs.  We will see what I ultimately come up with :-)

As a brief aside, I am also in the process of changing my rating system -- and by that I simply mean changing the graphic.  I am going to start using my butterflies instead of stars, though for labeling purposes I'll continue to use "stars," as "butterflies" is just such a long word for that label cloud, haha.  Of course, Blogger is being obnoxious and giving all of my images with transparent backgrounds a white background on my posts, so the effect is currently not as lovely as I would like for it to be.  (If anyone has any advice on that, I'd really appreciate it.  I have Googled the heck out of it and tried many code tweaks and CSS add-ons, but to no avail.)

But back to the point of this post, this leaves me with my parting questions for you all... How do you approach your book reviews?  Do you take notes as you read?  After you read?  What do your reviews themselves tend to focus on?  And lastly, if you have any thoughts or words of advice for me as I look to modify my own approach to reviews and how I write them, please feel free to share!

As always, Happy Reading!

The Sunday Salon: Book Hype - To Read or Not to Read?

We see it all the time: books that come seemingly from out of nowhere to find their way on practically everyone's shelves and become bestsellers almost overnight. I've often wondered how others react to this phenomenon. Do you immediately run out to grab your copy and devour it? Do you wait awhile until some of the hype dies down (or until you get a positive review from a trusted source) to give the book a try? Or do you write it off altogether because of the hype?

I'd say that I fall pretty consistently into the middle category. It is rare that I will run out to get a copy of a book the moment it starts appearing everywhere I look. I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until the fourth book was out.  In fact, I distinctly remember holding my nose up at the books, eyeing them with disdain. Ha! What did I know? The turning point for me was seeing an interview with J. K. Rowling and I had to admit, I was tempted... those books sounded like they would be right up my alley. So, I swallowed my pride, went way out on a limb, jumped in with both feet, however you want to call it,  bought all four books, and promptly devoured them within a week's time.

Most recently, I stuck to my "wait and see policy" with The Hunger Games, which I mentioned in my "musings on a re-read" post a few days ago. Not surprisingly, I was very skeptical when I kept seeing that book appear on blog after blog. All I could think at the time was: is everyone getting this book from the author/publisher and feeling obligated to tout it as the best book they'd ever read? Seriously, I couldn't go to a book blog without seeing some kind of post about this book -- it was in someone's mailbox, teasered on Tuesdays, given 5 out of 5 stars, and on and on. It took me awhile to give in -- I think after breaking down and buying a copy it still sat on my shelf for quite some time, mocking me. Of course, wouldn't you know by the time I gave it a chance I loved it? And gave it my own freakin' 5 star review? And so I promptly found myself with everyone else, anxiously waiting for the remaining two books to be published.

I swear, if I was smart, I'd just wait to start reading a series once all of the books have been published and do away with this whole "waiting impatiently for the next book" business. But if I haven't learned my lesson yet, I doubt I ever will...

In general, I have to admit that I have ended up enjoying most of the hyped-up books I have eventually come to read. Probably the most notable exception are the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris.  I tried to like them, I really did. I gave the series three books, dammit. The whole experience probably should have ended with a DNF on the first book. It's like I thought there must be something wrong with me for not liking these books.  Well, the third time wasn't the charm, so I threw in the towel and just admitted what I probably knew in my heart after the first book: these books are just not for me. I'm sure there are other hyped-up books that fell flat for me, but it's late and right now I'm coming up with a whole lot of nothing.

I suppose what got me pondering this topic to the point of writing about it here is the recent craze over the Shades of Grey books by E. L. James. For awhile, I waffled back and forth over whether or not I'd ever read these. This time, I don't see myself buying into the hype, though. Oh, I've read my fair share of romance novels, so it's not like I haven't been exposed to sex scenes, but somehow the way these books are portrayed, they just seem so unappealing to me. It doesn't sound like romance to me and if I'm going to read about sex, there has to be a good romance behind it for me to enjoy it. I'm not even going to get into the whole topic of the books originally being written as Twilight fan fiction. (Yes, I gave into the Twilight hype and I confess I did enjoy reading those books for the story that was told, but let's all be honest here, we aren't talking about books that are going to win any major literary awards, am I right?)  OK, I guess I lied and did get into the Twilight fan fiction subject a little bit, but that's it, I promise. I've seen enough reviews of Shades of Grey that bemoan the writing and other niggling points, so I really don't think that all the gushing reviews about the story and the sex will weaken my resolve not to read these books at this point. (Of course, if that changes, feel free to call me out and remind me about this post, I would totally deserve it.)

What about you? How do you react to these books that explode in popularity?

The Sunday Salon: I'm Back!

So, um, wow... I took a much longer hiatus from blogging than I had intended to.  As most of you know, I had a baby last year.  In fact, we're coming up on Miss Laura's first birthday faster than I want to think about!  I am in the midst of planning her party as I type this.

I thought I'd use this post to give you all a summary update as to what has been going on with me...

The last year and a half has been a whirlwind.  Just sitting down to think about what I want to write about here has made me realize what a blur it truly has been.  Having a baby has so completely changed my life -- our lives -- but I can't imagine a world without my daughter.  And I had to include this picture from Easter -- we have a reader on our hands (I hope!)  Within weeks of Laura being born, my husband and I had no memory of what life was like before she arrived.  She is such a doll and yet a little monkey at the same time.  We have about a million nicknames for her, depending on what she is getting into.  :-)  I can't believe that any day now we expect her to get up and walk across the room.  She has taken a couple of tentative steps here and there, but she would much rather pull herself along our furniture.  We are both eagerly awaiting those fully independent steps, though not without considerable trepidation, knowing that we are getting ready to be running around like crazy even more than we already are with a crawler!  I am so looking forward to decorating for her first birthday party and making her a little cake to smash.  My mother and I took a cake decorating class on Saturdays this month, so I am planning to make a little 6-inch cake and decorate it for Laura to smash (and eat).  The theme of her party will be Winnie The Pooh's first birthday and all of the decorations arrived a couple of weeks ago.  I can't wait to decorate and have our family and close friends over to celebrate what a fun year this has been!

In other news, a lot has been going on with me professionally -- particularly in the last couple of months.  Going back to the Fall of 2010, though, I started a second part-time job in anticipation of it becoming full time when it became financially possible.  I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door with a legal transcription company without having had any prior experience.  It turns out I had a talent for it and things took off.  While I was still pregnant, I was typing up a storm in addition to fulfilling my role as the Assistant Store Manager for B&N @ Georgia Tech.  It was pretty crazy trying to manage both jobs and maternity leave *almost* felt like a vacation compared to that.  I said ALMOST. :-) Actually, I really did enjoy those 12 weeks I had to spend with Laura and if I could be a stay at home mom, I would do it in a heartbeat and never look back.

However, at the beginning of March, I officially became the next best thing, a work at home mother!  I did go back to B&N for another six and a half months while my amazing parents helped us beyond measure and watched Laura while my husband and I worked.  I had intended and hoped to become a full time Legal Transcriptionist at some point in the near future.  Then over the Christmas holidays, a friend of mine who worked in our corporate office asked me if I was still interested in working from home because she was hopeful she might be able to recommend me for an opportunity with one of our apparel vendors, Gear For Sports (they include the Champion, Gear, and Under Armour brands).  The next thing I knew, in January I had a conversation with the Sales Manager who oversees the B&N College Bookstores business for the Company and by the beginning of March, I was officially the Vendor Analyst for the B&N College business.

Of course, the best part is -- I get to work from home!  I am still in an industry I truly do love and one that has been so incredibly good to me over the years, but I no longer have to put up with the often-frustrating retail side of it day in and day out.  What an amazing blessing.  My parents are still watching Laura some, but for much shorter periods of time while I get in several concentrated hours of work.  I did have to give up legal transcription, but the manager of the company still wanted to keep me on and let me request work during any down times I have.  I am grateful to have that in my back pocket, so to speak, if I should ever want to make another change down the road.

There is no doubt about it, I have been very blessed in my professional life (and personal life, obviously).  Even in this tough economy, when I have needed to make a change, a job has found its way to me.  Not only that, but the very same week I had my training for the new job, my husband had an interview and found out within days that he was accepted into a management program with his company, so he got a promotion, as well!  The last month and a half has been a challenge to coordinate our schedules and figure out what works, but we finally seem to be settling into a good routine.

As the dust settled, I realized that it was HIGH time to blow the dust off of Melissa's Bookshelf and revive the blog.  I have participated in a couple of recent book tours and I had taken one review book by an author I love last year, but it just took me awhile to finally feel like I could jump back in with both feet and keep up with this site along with my busy personal/professional life.  I took a day recently and did some serious Spring cleaning on the blog and am so happy to have updated it a bit.  And yes, I have still been reading throughout it all, though admittedly not nearly as much as I used to, though I have found myself with more time for reading lately and I hope that continues to be the case.  I have lots of reviews planned for the next few weeks for the books I've read over the last several months.  I've penciled in some time every day to write reviews and schedule them to publish and I can't wait to get back into some of the memes I used to participate in.

So, I hope those of you who used to keep up with Melissa's Bookshelf will find your way back on occasion and I welcome all of you new readers out there.  Thanks to those of you who have kept up with me on Facebook, as well.  I'm looking forward to being an active member of the book blogging community again, that's for sure!  Happy Reading!!

The Sunday Salon: To Blog, or Not to Blog

Yes, that is the question. I have to be 100% honest and admit that I have been toying the idea with hanging up my hat at Melissa's Bookshelf. Not because I don't still love to read and share my thoughts, but because I don't feel that I have really been an active member of the book blogging community for quite some time. I am horrible about commenting on other blogs. Absolutely pathetic. My own blog has been sadly neglected of late. I just don't have the time for reading that I used to and my reviews are few and far between these days.

But then I look at my blog and I think of all the time and effort I have put into it, and I simply can't imagine letting it go. I may not be as great about keeping up with it as I used to be, but I do still like having it as my point of reference for all the books I've read and reviewed. So I think what I have come to realize is this: Book blogging has become something that I do more for myself and less to be part of the community. Does that sound as bad as I think it does? I certainly hope not, because it is not meant to be a knock on the amazing group of book bloggers out there and all the hard work they do. I love the world of book blogging. I just haven't been particularly active in it lately. My job may involve running a bookstore, but unfortunately that doesn't mean that my life revolves around books. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Yesterday I happened to visit Trish's Reading Nook only to discover that it was now the Non-Fiction Five Challenge and that she was no longer devoting a blog 100% to her reading. As sad as I was to discover that, I could completely sympathize with her on the decision she made and why. Reading her post about the transition really got me thinking even more about why I have my blog and what I should do with it. I'm glad I'll be able to "stay in touch" with Trish via her personal blog that will happen to have bookish posts every now and then. She's a great blogger with thoughtful and insightful posts, and one of the first I came across when I looked to carve out my own niche in the book blogging community.

Sometimes I wonder if it is some of the blogging controversies that have popped up from time to time that have kind of deterred me from blogging as much, but I really don't think so. I rarely voiced my opinions on any of the issues that arose because frankly, I didn't want to get involved with it. Take that how you will.

This blog is about my love of reading and sharing it with anyone who cares to read about it. The books I love, the books I hate (which are rare), and those that fall somewhere between. Sadly, I don't have the time to devote to all of your blogs like I used to, and believe me, no one hates that more than I do. But no more beating myself up about it. If I only have one book read and reviewed in a month (ahem, April 2010), so be it. I've even decided that I am not going to bother with reading challenges anymore, because in all honesty, there is too good a chance that I WON'T complete them, and why give myself something else to feel guilty about?

Yes, I will still participate in some of the weekly memes when the spirit moves me. Goodness knows I love Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by Miz B and Should Be Reading! "Waiting on" Wednesday, Friday Finds, and The Sunday Salon are also some favorites of mine. So no, I don't intend to fall of the face of the book-blogging planet. I'll even be on Twitter (@Melsbookshelf) every now and then there's Melissa's Bookshelf on Facebook, so you can find me there, too. Somehow my blog is still growing in readership despite my spotty posting of late and for that, I can't thank my readers enough. Your comments, link-sharing, and so much more mean the world to me and I am so glad that you have found your way to my little ol' blog. And thank you alike to authors and publishers who have been so generous in sharing review copies of their books and inviting me to participate in Book Tours. I never dreamed that my blog would become what it has, so thank you for helping me to make that possible!

With that, happy Sunday and happy reading!

The Sunday Salon: Shameless Plug

Wow, it has been WAY too long since I've written a Sunday Salon post. I don't know quite what happened to cause me to fall so far out of the book blogging world and the fun memes and outlets like TSS... But there's no time like the present to remedy this!

Over the last few weeks I have been slowly getting back into regular reading. I've been fortunate to read several books that I have really enjoyed to start the year. My favorite so far? Probably The Sapphire Flute by Karen E. Hoover. There are many upcoming books I am excited about this year, as well, as you've probably seen from my "Waiting On" Wednesday posts. Yes, 2010 looks to be a promising year for books I want to devour!

By now you may be wondering what I meant by titling my post as a "shameless plug." Well, like several other book bloggers, I decided to start a fan page for Melissa's Bookshelf on Facebook. I thought it might be a good outlet for bookish discussions and a better forum for my Networked Blogs feed. After having been in a bit of a reading slump I really want to try to get back to consistent activity with this blog in 2010! So, for those of you who are on Facebook, please consider following this link and becoming a fan!

Many thanks in advance and I look forward to seeing you guys on Facebook! Happy Reading!

Sunday Salon (08.16.09): Balancing Act

Happy Sunday, everyone! Is it me, or are the weeks flying by? I thought my five weeks off between jobs flew by, but now I can't believe I've been back to work for two weeks already! And while I'll be working 6 days this week, they are sure to fly by as classes start Monday--it's the busiest week of the year!

Of course, ever since I started back to work, my reading has seriously suffered. I'd forgotten what it's like to be in retail--in the evenings after getting home, I've been so exhausted that nearly every time I sit down to read I fall asleep. I've managed to make it through two print books and one audio book in the last two weeks--I used to be a 3-4 books per week girl, easily! So naturally, I'm feeling guilty about my decreased productivity, even though I know I shouldn't. It's not as if I've totally fallen off the face of the earth, right? :-) But I have to admit I rather miss my desk job, when I had the hour lunch breaks that would afford me enough time to get through a nice chunk of whatever book I was reading at the time...

After a day off yesterday and finishing up one book earlier in the day, I sat down last night to start a book that I'll be reviewing for a TLC book tour--Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch. For once I wasn't exhausted and I almost felt my old reading-self coming back as I made it through 70-80 pages in a sitting before heading to bed. I'm hopeful that after this crazy-busy week I'll be re-accustomed to being on my feet all day and won't be so utterly exhausted in the evenings that I can barely function. Then perhaps I might get through two books per week again! But you know what, I've decided not to push myself or beat myself up if I can't read as much as I want to.

One bonus through all this--I'm discovering the fun of listening to audio books! For some reason I was always prejudiced against them. I preferred to hold a book in my hand and read it that way, page by page. There's nothing like the smell of a new book, you know? But now I find that commuting isn't so terrible when I'm able to listen to a book during the drive. And the quality of the reader can really influence your opinion of a book, don't you think? If you read my review for Wormwood by G. P. Taylor earlier this week, you'll know I wasn't necessarily nuts about the story, but was blown away by the reading, which made it more bearable. What I'm discovering with my current audio book, 8th Confession by James Patterson, is that I don't really care for the reader but the story is so good that I'm still able to enjoy the book.

So for all of you who listen to audio books, do you have any recommendations for me? I need to build my collection up or make a trip to the library soon...

Happy Reading!

The Sunday Salon (08.09.09): Short & Sweet

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I feel like I should apologize for not being as active in the blogosphere this week. I hate that I haven't been out there commenting on your blogs much, nor have I had time to adequately keep up with your posts in Google Reader. I've managed to knock the count down to under 400 at the moment (although that meant marking all the Sunday Salon posts as read :-/) but I know the count will jump back up in the morning. As you know, I started my new job this week, and it's clear that it is going to keep me very busy. So, unfortunately I have a feeling that this pattern will continue. I don't even have much time for reading, as I'm sure you noticed... Just one review all week! At least it was a good one: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, which is part of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I will be finishing an audio book tomorrow (hopefully) so you should see that review soon, as well.

I also thought I'd remind you all about my contest that is running until midnight tonight. I'm giving away two copies of Dying for Mercy by Mary Jane Clark, thanks to Wiredset. So be sure to visit my post and enter while there's still time. I'll be using Random.org to select the winners sometime tomorrow and will announce them in a Mystery Mondays post. If I'm lucky, I'll have time before heading to work, otherwise I may not be able to announce the winner until tomorrow evening, but keep an eye out for that!

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start! With any luck I'll get back on track again this week, and I'll do my best to get back out and comment on your blogs as much as I can. Happy Reading!

Sunday Salon (08.02.09): July '09 In Review

Happy Sunday, Saloners! Sorry I've been absent from the salon for awhile, other than a review here or there. There just hasn't been too much to write about this summer. I thought I'd use today's post to recap my month of July, which wasn't too shabby... 16 books read! I have to admit, I thought I'd read more because I was on vacation in between jobs the entire month, but it's amazing how busy one can keep even without a job!

BOOKS READ BY RATING

5 stars:
After The Fire by Belva Plain
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

4-1/2 stars:
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
The King's Rose by Alisa M. Libby
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (Bill Surie)
A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

4 stars:
7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Keeping The Moon by Sarah Dessen
A Deadly Habit by Andrea Sisco
A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist
The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

3-1/2 stars:
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

So nothing lower than 3-1/2 stars, not too shabby!! And this month's total page count was 6,075!

JULY'S TOP PICK

This is a tough one, because I read a lot of great books this month, but rather than have a few of my 5 star books share this honor, I am choosing a debut that really stood out: Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev.


READING CHALLENGE UPDATE

As you may have seen from one of yesterday's posts, I completed my first reading challenge, the Pages Read Challenge hosted by Kathrin at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic! I had set my goal at 30,000 pages and little did I realize I'd be meeting it by the end of July! As for my other challenges, I have now read 3 of 9 books for the Sarah Dessen challenge (ends 12/31), since I added Keeping The Moon this month. I also managed to squeak in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells for the Classics Challenge (ends 10/31) before the month ended, so now I've finished 2 of 6 towards that challenge. And I have now read 86 books for the 100+ Challenge of 2009!

OTHER RANDOM MUSINGS & NEWS

I thought I ought to tell you all that you may not hear from me quite as much beginning tomorrow. I am starting a new job after having enjoyed five glorious weeks of vacation when my previous job ended. This new job will definitely keep me busier than my old job. I'm going to be the Assistant Store Manager at the Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech, a college superstore in mid-town Atlanta. This is the company I worked with for five years before my most recent job, and that is even the store I came from.

One possible change to my reading habits may come from this--my commute is going to be a bit longer so I may be trying out and reviewing more audiobooks in the near future. I figure that will be a good way to maximize my time since I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to devote to my usual reading. I will try to keep up with my usual memes, but I think I likely won't be churning out as many reviews as I was for awhile. But who knows? Maybe I'll surprise myself and read more than I expect to!

And because there is actual a blog policy (that I had to sign) for B&N, I am supposed to say something to the effect that the views represented in this blog do not necessarily reflect the view of Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, Inc. whenever I mention them in a post. I'll have to get the exact verbiage when I can get a copy of the policy for myself!

Happy Sunday and happy reading, everyone!