Friends, I am BEYOND excited to host the incredibly fantastic Laura Bickle on the blog today! Laura is the author of the supremely creepy vampire series, The Hallowed Ones, about an Amish girl named Katie who must figure out a way to survive the vampire apocalypse. They’re excellent. Laura was nice and wonderful enough to put together a guest post and answer some bookish and Halloweenish questions. Thanks, Laura! Take it away!
Friends, I have something like a compulsive series-starting problem. Or maybe a series-unfinishing problem. So finding new series that I haven’t started yet was actually really hard. There are a few newer series on here, but there are a good number of older ones, too. They are all series that I’m curious about and anxious to get reading!
1. Abhorsen by Garth Nix. I can’t believe I haven’t started this series yet. It’s honestly a little ridiculous. My bestie Alyssa keeps insisting that I start them, and my other bestie Brittany bought me SABRIEL. I will fix this.
2. Dreamdark by Laini Taylor. It goes without saying that Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series is one of my favorites. I have wanted to read Laini Taylor’s first series for a while now, even though fairies and I are sometimes love-hate. Hopefully because it’s Laini, this will be love.
3. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. This series always reminded me of Supernatural, so that makes me extra excited to read it. Now that I’ve read the first book (but, hello, not the next two) of Sarah Rees Brennan’s Lynburn Legacy books, I’m even more excited.
4. Something Strange & Deadly by Susan Dennard. If you guys know me even a little bit, you might know that zombies are not really my jam, and I hear that this is what’s going on–at least in some part–in this series. That being said, I still want to give it a try. I’ve always heard such good things!
5. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. Whenever I feel like reading something fun and humorous with a touch of paranormal goings on, I always think of Rachel Hawkins. This series, which revolves around ancient guardians known as Paladins, sounds even more up my alley than Rachel’s other books.
6. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I looooove the Mistborn series. I’ve been gearing up to listen to book 3 because the audio is excellent. But all of Brandon Sanderson’s books appeal to me. Can’t wait to start this one…eventually.
7. The United States of Asgard by Tessa Gratton. I’m sorry, did you say Vikings? STAHHHP I’M INNNNN.
8. Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke. I’ve heard LOTS of excellent things about this series, and HEY! It just started! The parallel universes angle sounds so interesting.
9. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake. Ooooh, dying gods? Unrest? Yes, please. I’ll take any and all mythology retellings that I can get my hands on.
10. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. I tore through the Vampire Academy series a few summers ago. Like, couldn’t stop reading them once I started. I hear great things about this series, too. And hello, Adrian. *winks*
Guys, I’m really excited for this post. I think it’s a perfect thing to post about for Fortnight of Fright, even though it isn’t remotely bookish–Weird NJ. I know that the people behind Weird NJ have since expanded to cover all the weird, creepy local folklore and ghost stories in other states, but Weird NJ is where it all started. My sister and I used to scour the website and the books to find places close to us to go see. Some of them are legit scary as hell, others are just odd places or landmarks. It’s all super fun. But because this is Fortnight of FRIGHT, I’m going to highlight a couple of the creepier places and legends in my home state. WOOT!
Friends, there’s no better way to start out this year’s Fortnight of Fright than by paying homage to one of my FAVORITE creepy tv shows around right now: Sleepy Hollow. HOLLA, WITNESSES! I legitimately love this show. It appeals to several of my favorite things: American Revolutionary history, biblical prophecies of death and the apocalypse, monsters, men with British accents, an OTP, a small town, humor, witches…there’s probably more. PLUS I get to “watch” it with my besties, and by watch I mean that we all watch it at the same time and text each other when something crazy slash hilarious slash swoony happens. We all know this is THE BEST.
Considering all of this, but particularly the monsters, witches, and biblical prophecies of death and the apocalypse angles, I thought that Fortnight of Fright would be the perfect time to shout my love of Sleepy Hollow from the rooftops. Woot! Come fangirl with me!
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins 
Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.
Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.
Guys, I was beyond excited to reread one of my FAVORITE books for this month’s On the Same Page. There is very little as awesome to me as reading a favorite book with your favorite people, and I couldn’t wait for Brittany and Alyssa to dive in. As always, we all reacted differently, but I was reminded how much I love THE GOOSE GIRL. I couldn’t get enough of Shannon Hale’s writing the first time I read it, and I was captivated by it again.
Because I love the writing in this book so much, I wanted to share just a small handful of my favorite quotes with you guys. YAY QUOTES!
[Read more…]
YAY I love this week’s Top Ten Tuesday! Friends, I love being able to visualize the settings of the books I’m reading. One of the bonus side effects of this is that I often find myself DYINGGG to visit the places these books describe, whether real or imaginary. I’ve got a mix of both here. Now, let’s all plan a vacation, mmkay?
Books: A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin
Umm, obvs I want to go to Westeros. But, like, it’s not really great there right now, guys. Everyone is fighting, no one is loyal to the right people at the right time, basically everyone dies, people are cray…the list goes on. If I could book a ticket there tomorrow, would I still? YOU BET.
Books: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
I have to tell you, visiting Asia is not necessarily near the top of my list of places to go. No specific reason. But Marissa Meyer has created a completely shiny, realistically futuristic New Beijing, and I’d love to see it. Also maybe if I could run into Kai somewhere, that would be super.
Book: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Is it creepy that I want to go to Les Cirque des Reves? Not sure that I care. This place is so magical and indulgent and mysterious. I crave the opportunity to set foot in it myself and visit the tents and the Ice Garden and EVERYTHING. GAH NEED TO REREAD ASAP.
Book: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
DUH. Also, this picture is EXACTLY EXACTLY how I picture Puck’s house, as well as the beach where the races take place. Thisby remains one of the most vividly realized imaginary places I’ve ever read, maybe because it seems like it could be so real and exist in our world. I would MOVE to Thisby if it were real. I would, I would.
Book: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Ah, now we get to the ACTUAL PLACES portion of the list. Iceland isn’t somewhere that’s always been on my vacation radar, but it’s most certainly a place I want to visit now that I’ve read BURIAL RITES. It’s so stark and lovely and fiercely beautiful there. At least, all the pictures look that way.
Books: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins | Just One Day by Gayle Forman
So I’ve been fortunate in my life to have visited Paris three times. It’s the only place on this list that I’ve actually already been, but guys? It’s magic there. Like, the air is full of magic fairy dust (SHHHH, that’s not smog). Every time I read a book set there it makes me want to go back.
Book: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Literally every picture I’ve ever seen of Prague is gorgeous. I’m dying to go there. DYING.
Book: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Ahh, look at this nice, sunny picture! The Cotswolds as they are described in Sarah Rees Brennan’s book aren’t as friendly-looking, but it still looks like an incredibly cozy, beautiful place to visit. I’d go there, but stay far away from the woods. You know?
Books: The Penderwicks at Pointe Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall | Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Amy McNamara
Maine will turn up on every single list like this, friends. It’s only a few hours from me, but I’ve never been. I’m so drawn to the rocky beaches and the chill in the air and the quiet woods. It’s an Amy kind of place, friends.
Book: The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Yes, THE FALCONER takes place in historical Edinburgh. But Scotland is basically my holy grail of places to visit, and this book made Edinburgh even more appealing to me.
Books: Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
THE HIGHLANDS OMG. GET ME HERE. MY BODY IS READY. PLEASE. DON’T MAKE ME BEG ALTHOUGH I TOTALLY WILL. Ahem. So, you get it, I’m assuming.
Check out Lisa’s recap of Episode One to get all caught up on Team Avatar!
This week, we get to spend some quality time with our beloved, in crisis Avatar. Korra is looking beat up, friends. She’s doing some underground bending matches and, umm, losing. After she cleans herself up following her most recent loss, she wanders out into an alleyway–not exactly sure where she is–and sees…DUN DUN DUNNN…HERSELF. Avatar-state Korra, pre-haircut, pre-downward spiral, pre-new wardrobe of khaki green. And apparently this isn’t the first time down-on-her-luck Korra has seen her. They fight, until some kindly neighborhood folks come upon the scene, only to see just the one Korra, flat on her ass. It’s clear that something isn’t right in Korra’s melon.
Broken Avatar is broken. Sad face.
We go into flashback mode to Korra leaving Republic City. Team Avatar is saying their farewells before Korra leaves to go to the South Pole three years ago. She only meant to be gone for a few weeks, apparently. Tenzin assures Korra that the airbenders will handle anything that comes up, and Team Avatar tells her to get better soon and stay in touch. Something is rotten in the state of the Avatar, you guys.
In the Southern Water Tribe lands, Korra has nightmares of her final face off with Zaheer. She has a heart-to-heart with her mother, who doesn’t see any improvement in Korra’s state of mind or her recovery. She promises her mother that she’ll visit Katara.
The poison from Zaheer did lots of damage, obvs, but Katara tells Korra something that I’m sure is going to feature prominently in her recovery: In the end, whether or not Korra gets better is squarely on her own shoulders. Korra sounds very frustrated. I guess she hasn’t been able to move her lower body? Did we know this, friends? Anyway, in the middle of her sessions with Katara, she has flashbacks and gives up.
Emo Korra writing to Asami
All of Team Avatar are writing to her, and Korra reads her letters from them. Bolin even DRAWS HER PICTURES like a kindergartener. I love him. HE IS EVERYTHING. But even their friendship from afar doesn’t seem to break through Korra’s mental and physical blocks. She yells at Katara and seems to be losing hope, and lonely. Katara reminds her of the suffering Aang endured when the Air Kingdom was destroyed, and says that he turned his suffering into motivation and found peace. Something tells me that Korra just isn’t there yet, you guys. But she manages to have a breakthrough in her physical therapy. WORD. YOU CAN DO THIS, GIRL.
Bolin’s picture.
Back to present-day Korra walking down a shady street by herself. She sees a little puppy behind her and then, AVATAR KORRA is there. The puppy starts growling ADORABLY. (Seriously, this dog is super cute.) It’s little growls make Avatar Korra go away. Korra follows the puppy.
Another flashback sees Tenzin visiting Korra. She has improved tremendously from before and is putting on a fire-bending demonstration. In the midst of it, she has a flashback of Zaheer. Tenzin assures her that rushing things won’t help anyone, but Korra is worried about the Earth Kingdom. Tenzin says that things there are under control, thanks to Kuvira. As always, Korra remains impatient. She writes a letter to Asami and says that she’s getting a lot better but still cannot go into the Avatar state without having visions of Zaheer. Then she asks Asami not to tell Mako and Bolin that she’s written to her instead of them, but that it’s easier to talk to her. I LOVE THIS FRIENDSHIP FOREVER.
After talking to her parents, Korra tells them she wants to go back to Republic City, but that she wants to go alone. SHE LEAVES NAGA I DIE. NOT NAGA. I HAS THE SADS. Korra winds up in some tropical-looking place that is most certainly NOT Republic City. She gets caught up in chasing down some thieves who are, of course, benders, and she can’t stop them.
As Korra is arriving in Republic City, she sees the vision of Avatar-state Korra on a cliff and turns around. She docks somewhere, removes her trademark Water Tribe clothes and hacks off her hair. Avatar identity crisis is in full swing.
Korra winds up at the Northern Water Tribe lands and visits the spirit portal. Some spirits see her meditating and wonder aloud if she’s ACTUALLY the Avatar because they don’t sense any Ravaa energy. Korra hasn’t been able to connect to the Avatar’s energy for two years at this point and won’t accept help from the spirits. She’s determined to figure things out for herself. She sends a letter to her parents lying, saying she’s in Republic City, when in fact, she’s wandering the desert trying to find herself. The Avatar-state Korra follows her everywhere, which seems to include the Earth Kingdom, where Korra now lives.
Back in real time, the puppy has brought Korra to the swamp, and it turns out to be one of the spirits she met at the Northern spirit portal. In the swamp, she finds Avatar-state Korra. They fight again, and Korra is on the defense for most of the early going. Then Avatar-state Korra pulls her into this weird puddle of white…stuff and Korra goes under.
When Korra wakes up, she’s in an underground cave with an old woman who says that she knew the Avatar in one of her previous lives. Then, YOU GUYS, she turns out to be OMFG TOPH BEIFONG. I CANNOT I CANNOT I CANNOT. KORRA HAS FOUND TOPH BEIFONG. THIS IS ALL THE THINGS.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Book of Kindly Deaths by Eldritch Black 
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THE MONSTERS IN A BOOK BECAME REAL?
When twelve-year-old Eliza Winter finds a secret room in her missing grandfather’s sprawling, Gothic house, her safe, sheltered life is blown apart. Inside, below a stained glass window where moonlight shines no matter the time of day, sits The Book of Kindly Deaths.
In defiance of her controlling mother, who has always forbidden her to read anything strange or imaginary, Eliza takes the book. As night sets in, Eliza reads one haunting story after another. And the further she journeys inside the book, the more the boundaries between our world and a shadowy land of monsters and forbidden places begin to blur.
When the strange, crooked man from the book arrives on the doorstep claiming to be a rare-book collector and demanding entry into the house, Eliza’s world is turned upside down. To escape him, she must dive all the way into the spine-tingling world of The Book of Kindly Deaths to save her grandfather–and write an end to the nightmare she’s caught inside.
In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it’s a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he’s had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends—a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way.Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy. A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.
Getting all GROWN-UP on y’all! I love the sound of this book. I love that it starts with a movie based on comic books, because that appeals to my nerdiness. But I’m also completely intrigued by the span of time IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE covers. I haven’t even read a single page of this book but I’m already curious about how things turn out for these crazy kids-who-turn-into-adults. BRING IT, SHARI!!
IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE comes out January 13, 2015 from St. Martin’s Press
