Category Archives: Blog

Throwback Thursday (January 31) – About a Boy

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So. Ahem. Apparently Mandi and I had a miscommunication. So if you thought the giveaway was going up/ending/continuing this week, that is not what’s happening. BUT DO NOT FEAR. Here’s what’s going to happen:

NEXT WEEK on our Throwback Thursday posts, we will put up a list of Throwback Book/DVD combo prize packs. No, I’m not telling you what the selection will be yet, but trust me, there will be something for everyone. There will be a Rafflecopter to enter. The giveaway will run for one week, and when it ends, the winner will get to pick the prize pack of their choice. 

ALL THROWBACK THURSDAY POSTS AND COMMENTS FROM JANUARY WILL QUALIFY AS ENTRIES. There will be space on the Rafflecopter to let us know how involved you’ve been in Throwback Thursday this month. The more you participated, the better your chances.

So what are you waiting for? Link up, and we can’t wait to unveil our prize packs next week!

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

And Throwback Thursday is no longer limited to just books! Throwback Thursday is dedicated to shining the spotlight on any book-related old favorites that need to be remembered.What’s your favorite classic television show or movie adaptation? What about your favorite song? Was your favorite toy a character from a book?

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick any media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago. Remember to keep it book-related!
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

About a Boy (2002), starring Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, and Nicholas Hoult.
Based on the book About a Boy by Nick Hornby.

I honestly can’t remember why I decided to watch this movie the first time, but I’m glad I did. Grant plays Will, a 38-year-old slacker who lives in off the royalties of a cheesy Christmas song his dad wrote, and who has never worked a day in his life. Will decides that it is a brilliant idea to date single mothers, because they will ultimately not want to commit to him and he will always be left looking like the good guy. It’s a terrible plan, and obviously it backfires. But before it crashes and burns, Will winds up crossing paths with Marcus (Hoult), a quirky and socially awkward twelve-year-old living with his depressed and sometimes-suicidal mother (Collette). To escape from his worries about his mom, Marcus foists an awkward-yet-endearing friendship upon a reluctant Will. And soon, although the last thing Will wanted in life was the trust of a weird little boy, he and Marcus learn they’re better together than they were apart.

I seriously love this movie. It’s a fabulous balance of quirky and sweet and awkward and witty and touching. It’s also the reason that it weirds me out now when I see Nicholas Hoult doing movies like X-Men and Warm Bodies and Jack the Giant Slayer. To me, he will always be Marcus Brewer, singing with his eyes closed. I love the humor, the friendship, the occasionally cringe-worthy awkwardness, and the British accents. Give it a try.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below! 



Top Ten Tuesday (January 29) – Frustrating Characters

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What’s that you say? I’m actually participating in a Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by our friends at The Broke and the Bookish)? Why yes, young padawan, I am! I’ve been out for a while, because in keeping with my whole “blogging should be a fun hobby” philosophy, if I think the topic is going to be too difficult or just doesn’t interest me, I skip it. But this one seemed fun. And as a slight spin, I’m going to keep these characters limited to BOOKS I REALLY LIKED. Just ‘cuz a book is awesome doesn’t mean it can’t have frustrating characters. And just because they’re frustrating doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t like them. Plus, it seemed like more fun than just trashing books I don’t like.

So HERE WE GO.

Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Oh, how I loathed Umbridge. And yes, she frustrated me. Every time she would give Harry one of her torturous detentions or take points from Gryffindor for no good reason, I wanted to throw things.

Gale Hawthorne, Mockingjay. I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m Team Peeta all the way, partially because Gale frustrated me so much in this book. He was angry and impulsive and reckless and his bad decisions had some seriously awful consequences. I still don’t see how people think he was a good match for Katniss. They would have destroyed the world.

John Hammond, Jurassic Park. HOW many times was Hammond told that cloning dinosaurs was a Seriously Bad Idea? Many. Many, many, many. And yet he did it anyway and was somehow surprised when everything went wrong.

Mackenzie Bishop, The Archived. Yes, I seriously loved this book, and I seriously loved Mac. But she made some terrible choices. I could see why she made them, but that didn’t keep them from frustrating me, because I could clearly see that they were bad choices. You know why? Because SHE knew they were bad choices, yet made them anyway.

Nikolai Kretzsky, Between Shades of Gray. I spent this entire book wanting Kretzsky to redeem himself, and occasionally we’d catch glimmers of it — but then he’d go back to behaving like the rest of the NKVD. It made the book even more heartbreaking (FABULOUS book, if I haven’t stressed that enough) because someone we could see had the potential for good, so often chose not to.

Mr. Stalas, Between Shades of Gray. Yes, ANOTHER character from this book I adore. This book is really aptly titled, because a lot of the characters really do fall into a gray area. Mr. Stalas is one of them. He’s just kind of a miserable man who almost seems to go out of his way to make life harder for his fellow deportees. Yet he’s not the one keeping them in the labor camps. Almost every time Mr. Stalas opened his mouth, I wanted to throttle him.

Li, Incarnate. Ugh, is there much worse than a hateful, spiteful parent? I couldn’t stand the way Li treated Ana and made her feel worthless — which, of course, was the point.

Beth, Dare You To. Okay, I know this is unfair since this book isn’t out until May (and guys, if you liked Pushing the Limits, you WANT this book. Trust me), so first off, a disclaimer. I LOVED this book. And I loved Beth. But the way she pushes people away and doesn’t trust anyone is infuriating. Understandable, yes, but frustrating. Also, I very nearly put Beth’s mom on this list, but she more saddened than frustrated me.

FitzChivalry Farseer, Assassin’s Apprentice.  Again, I love this book (favorite Fantasy EVER) and I adore Fitz, but there is a whole section in there that made me want to throw him off a roof. (Heh. That is a joke that you will get if you’ve read the book). I knew his brain was being messed with, but still, I just wanted to take him by the shoulders and yell “SNAP OUT OF IT!”

Lindsay Edgecombe, Before I Fall. As Sam Kingston starts the book as an Obnoxious Mean Girl, it only makes sense that her BFF is also an Obnoxious Mean Girl. But unlike Sam, who keeps her memory of the looping day and evolves through the course of the book, Lindsay just stays an Obnoxious Mean Girl. She drove me nuts.

Throwback Thursday (January 24) – Throw Momma From the Train

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ATTENTION! Next week, Mandi and I will be hosting a Throwback Giveaway! That’s right, you will be able to WIN THINGS! I’m not telling you what yet, but they will be awesome. Trust me, you want to enter.

But here’s the catch: You will have the best chance of winning if you participate in Throwback Thursday. And comment on other people’s Throwback Thursday posts. And yes, you can do this after the giveaway goes live, but EVEN OLD THROWBACK THURSDAY POSTS WILL COUNT AS ENTRIES. In other words, browse your bookshelf or DVD collection, find something you loved, and HOP TO. RIGHT NOW. Get a leg up on the slackers.

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

And NOW! We’re expanding! Throwback Thursday is no longer limited to just books! Throwback Thursday is dedicated to shining the spotlight on any book-related old favorites that need to be remembered.What’s your favorite classic television show or movie adaptation? What about your favorite song? Was your favorite toy a character from a book?

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick any media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago. Remember to keep it book-related!
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Throw Momma From the Train, starring Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal (1987)

 I am classifying this under the category of “bookish” because although it is not actually based on a book, it is about a frustrated author suffering from writer’s block as he attempts to write his first novel, while making ends meet by teaching a creative writing class. That seems pretty bookish to me.

Also, it’s an excuse to talk about this movie, which is one of my favorite movies ever. EVAH.

Here’s the gist of it. Larry (Billy Crystal) has lost his writerly spark, as his first novel was stolen by his ex-wife Margaret (played by Captain Janeway) and subsequently hit the New York Times Bestseller List. He wants to write a new novel, but he’s too consumed by bitter thoughts of Margaret to make any process. This bitterness bleeds into all aspects of his life, including the adult writing class he teaches. In the class is Owen Lift (DeVito), a mild-mannered wannabe writer who lives with his cantankerous Momma (played by Mama Fratelli). Owen has attempted to write a murder mystery, but it sucks. Larry advises him to go see a Hitchcock thriller to try to get the feel of the kind of story he wants to tell in his head. Owen decides to see Strangers on a Train, and comes away with the notion that what Larry was really telling him was that he wants Owen to kill his wife in exchange for Larry killing Momma.

And what follows a hilarious tale of attempted murder and unlikely friendship.

I love this movie so much it’s ridiculous. Maybe you aren’t into black comedies from 1987, and that’s fine. But if you want something to make you laugh and provide you with an arsenal of quotable material (seriously, my husband and I quote this movie to each other all the time. It’s also the source material for the header on my Tumblr #shamelesstumblrplug), this is the movie for you. Or if you’re a frustrated writer who sometimes harbors violent urges (which…I think…is most writers).

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!



Throwback Thursday (January 17) – Roswell

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ATTENTION! In a couple weeks, Mandi and I will be hosting a Throwback Giveaway! That’s right, you will be able to WIN THINGS! I’m not telling you what yet, but they will be awesome. Trust me, you want to enter.

But here’s the catch: You will have the best chance of winning if you participate in Throwback Thursday. And comment on other people’s Throwback Thursday posts. And yes, you can do this after the giveaway goes live, but EVEN OLD THROWBACK THURSDAY POSTS WILL COUNT AS ENTRIES. In other words, browse your bookshelf or DVD collection, find something you loved, and HOP TO. RIGHT NOW. Get a leg up on the slackers.

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

And NOW! We’re expanding! Throwback Thursday is no longer limited to just books! Throwback Thursday is dedicated to shining the spotlight on any book-related old favorites that need to be remembered.What’s your favorite classic television show or movie adaptation? What about your favorite song? Was your favorite toy a character from a book?

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick any media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago. Remember to keep it book-related!
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Roswell, based on the Roswell High series of books by Melinda Metz

I discovered this series on Netflix a couple years ago, in my search to fill the void in my heart left by Buffy and Veronica Mars. I’ve never read the books the series is based on, but I watched the episodes like I read books, if that makes sense. As in, I couldn’t stop, and just kept starting the next episode after finishing the one before. Good thing the series is only 3 seasons long, or my family may have starved to death.

Roswell is about three aliens – Max, Michael, and Isabel – who crash landed on Earth as children, and grew up raised by humans. Max and Isobel were lucky enough to be discovered by a loving couple who wished for children of their own (Superman, anyone?), but Michael wasn’t so fortunate, and wound up in the foster system. As teens, Michael and Isabel FREAK OUT when Max uses his Alien Superpowers (because of course they have alien superpowers) to heal local waitress Liz Parker after she’s shot. Soon, Liz figures out that Max is not exactly human. And then her best friend Maria finds out. And the local sheriff smells something fishy about the whole thing. And Liz is kind of dating his son — which is inconvenient, because there is a Definite Something happening between Liz and Max.

Ugh, I could go on and on about all the things I love about this show, but I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it. But never fear, if you want to gush about Roswell, I am more than happy to do that on a one-on-one basis. Just tweet at me or something, and I’ll be happy to blather on indefinitely about my great love for these characters. Especially Alex. And Kyle. And Michael. And Maria. And…well, all of them.

The show is this awesome combo of teen angst and superpowers and romance and sci-fi and mythology and secrets and puzzles and hiding and running. It is short, but at least the creators knew the show was ending, so everything wraps up pretty well at the end of the third season (although, make no mistake: I want more). And I love it so, so much. 

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!


Review + GIVEAWAY: The 13th Sign by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb (@ktubb @MacKidsBooks)

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Received a complimentary copy from the author as part of her blog tour.

I met Kristin at a blogger/author dinner a couple months back, as she is yet another Nashville author (I know that one day I will probably tire of saying “WHO KNEW SO MANY AWESOME AUTHORS LIVED IN NASHVILLE?” but today is not that day). I hadn’t read any of her books yet, as I don’t read a lot of middle grade, but Kristin was so much fun that I decided to make an exception for her first fantasy, The 13th Sign. I went to her launch party on Friday, and judging by the fabulous turnout, I’m not alone in thinking this book was a lot of fun.

The Plot (from Goodreads)

What if there was a 13th zodiac sign?

You’re no longer Sagittarius, but Ophiuchus, the healer, the 13th sign.

Your personality has changed. So has your mom’s and your best friend’s.

What about the rest of the world?

What if you were the one who accidentally unlocked the 13th sign, causing this world-altering change—and infuriating the other 12 signs?

Jalen did it, and now she must use every ounce of her strength and cunning to send the signs back where they belong. Lives, including her own, depend on it.

My Thoughts

Okay, I feel like this book needs a few things going into it. You either need to really believe in astrology — like, a whole lot — or, if you don’t believe in it, you have to be completely willing to thoroughly suspend your disbelief. I fall into the latter category. But how many fantasy worlds do we really believe are actually real? Um, if you’re like me, none of them. So I was totally willing to jump into the fantasy world of this book, where personalities really are determined by your Zodiac sign, even though I personally don’t buy into it in the real world.

You also need to remember it’s a middle grade, not YA. And as such, it reads like a book for 13-year-olds, not 18-year olds. And that’s what it’s supposed to do. I’ve read some reviews that seemed to want it to skew older, and that’s just not its purpose. It’s the whole “don’t judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree” thing.

Disclaimers aside, I thought this book was a lot of fun. I honestly have never paid much attention to the Zodiac — I couldn’t even tell you any of the defining personality traits of my sign (Virgo) — but as each of the signs manifested and challenged Jalen, I found their different personalities really interesting. I also loved the New Orleans setting (because who doesn’t love a New Orleans setting?) and the non-stop action.

I did think some of the challenges Jalen faced were a bit too easy, and the solutions a tad bit contrived, but again, had to remind myself that given the intended audience, they were fitting. And I liked the “altered” version of some of the characters’ personalities better than the original versions. Which…that could be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective. I enjoyed the creativity, the little puzzles Jalen had to solve, and just the overall charm of the book. There was just something fun and refreshing about it.

By far, my favorite thing about this book was the break-neck pace. It honestly had no good stopping point, which is why I read the whole thing in a day. When Kristin saw I had finished it the day after receiving it in the mail, she said, “Wow, you’re a fast reader!” My response: “Well, you didn’t give me a good place to take a break!” The characters literally spend the entire book running and fighting. It’s crazy.

If you want a fun and original fast-paced middle grade fantasy, this could be the book for you.

And now for the giveaway! As I have a shiny finished copy, I no longer need my *SIGNED* ARC. So I’m giving it away to a lucky reader! Enjoy it yourself, or give it to the young reader in your life. Giveaway ends 1/28/13. U.S. only. Must be 13 or older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway