Follow Friday and Blog Hop

It's Friday again! Time for another Follow Friday and Blog Hop!





Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View so head on over there to read about the featured blogger and check out some other fantastic blogs!



The Blog Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books and this week's question is:

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

My Answer: I do have a rating system, which is detailed on the right sidebar on a scale from 0/5 to 5/5. I like having it because I like having a way to show just how much I loved (or didn't love) a book. It gives people who read my reviews a better idea of what I thought. At least I think so. : )

Top 5 Tuesday

Yep, it's Tuesday again and time for another Top 5 List. This week - "Shweet!" moments. Just to clarify, it's those moments of total and complete awesomeness or badassery (yes I just made that word up) that made you say "Shweet!" out loud while you were reading. Now, there will be spoilers in this post, so I'll put the title of the book in bold so that if you haven't read the book, you have the option of skipping over that particular moment.

Top 5 "Shweet!" Moments

5. Shopaholic Ties the Knot - Becky's ability to pull of not one, but two completely fabulous weddings - on two different continents! And the fact that it all goes off without a hitch and no one is the wiser? Brilliant.

4. Linger - Cole puts Grace's father in his place. When all hell is breaking loose and her once absent parents suddenly decide to show up and start freaking out at Sam, I love that Cole jumped right in and made her father realize what an ass he was being. I loved him even more after that.

3. Beautiful Creatures - Uncle Macon's defense for Lena at the school "trial". The ignorant and hateful women and students get what exactly what they asked for when he comes in and starts spilling everyone's secrets and saves Lena from their unwarranted venom. Fantastic.

2. Shadow Kiss - Christian and Rose teaming up to kick major Strigoi ass. They went from fearing for their lives, to taking down more evil vampires than they could count. In my opinion, it's a major turning point for the students and adults at the school to realize that they don't have to just defend, they can fight back - and win. Excellent.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I'll be general and just say the entire major fight at Hogwarts. Students, ghosts, and furniture joining up to take down Voldemort and his followers. Neville finally getting his moment of glory. Harry's calm and completely awesome final showdown with Voldemort. And who can forget Molly Weasley getting all "Oh no you didn't!" with Bellatrix? Beyond fabulous.

Alright, those are my Top 5 "Shweet!" moments. Do you agree? Disagree? Wish I would have added a different moment? Feel free to share your picks in the comments below, and in the meantime, happy reading!

Catching Fire

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

This is my second time reading this book and I realized that I never reviewed it the first time through. So here it is! I think I enjoyed The Hunger Games a little more, but this book was just as good as the first. I ached for Katniss as she dealt with the aftermath of her desperate actions in the arena. Things aren't all rainbows and sunshine just because she and Peeta got out alive. In fact, things are worse than they ever were.

It was so hard to be in her head sometimes, because she's so...complex. She is able to see the bigger picture when she needs to, and do what is required of her. But she's also extremely emotional about the people in her lives and when she acts with her emotions, she's very much in the moment; future consequences completely forgotten. Her back and forth between Gale and Peeta is a perfect example of this, and it's the same with her feelings in regard to the political unrest in the country. It's so hard so see her struggle, because this is not a traditional romance. She's living in a world where fear runs deep, and both love interests came about in a way that doesn't exactly help her decide who to trust or allow her to explore those feelings and pick who she wants.

The political aspect of the book added great tension to the book, especially once they are once again thrust into the arena. Is it a setup and a deliberate attempt by the President to get rid of one or both of them? Who is really on their side? What the hell happened to Cinna? And the twist at the end practically killed me. I didn't see it coming at all and I am dying for the final book. (Sadly, I have to wait till next week, since it's shipping with another book that's not released till the 31st.) On a side note, was I the only one who was completely repulsed by the people in the Capitol at that party? The drinks to make you throw up so you can stuff your face some more - horrible. I wanted to reach into the book and smack them around a little.

Overall, I'm loving this series. It's intense and tragic and exciting and intriguing, and the second book had all of the above and more. I trembling with excitement to see how it ends. 5/5

Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic, Inc
$17.99 (hardcover)
400 pages

Follow Friday and Blog Hop

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:


-Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
-Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://edgyinspirational.blogspot.com/
-Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
-Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
-Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
-If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
-If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
-If your new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!


 

Blog Hop is hosted over at Crazy for Books

This week's question:

How many blogs do you follow? My number is pretty low, I'm trying to get to all the blogs that follow me, so I can return the gesture, but I like to really look around and with two very small children, my time is limited. I'm getting there though, so if you haven't seen me yet, don't worry, I'm getting to you. I also have friends' and families blogs that I follow so, probably around 30. I try to stay up to date with everyone's posts, but it's hard since the more books I read about, the more I want to buy! But I love being able to discover new books and authors, so you can bet I'll be following more people to broaden my literary horizons. : )

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at breaking the spine.

Firelight

Sophie Jordan

Harper Collins

336 pages

$16.99 (hardcover)

Release date - September 7

"A hidden truth.

Mortal enemies.


Doomed love.


Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.


Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy."

I found this book this past weekend while haunting the Barnes and Noble website for new books to lust after. I hate to say I judged this book by its cover but it's true. It was very beautiful and caught my eye so I clicked on it to read the summary, and I have to say, it sounds great! Dragons, hunters, doomed love? Count me in. And I'm all about finding new authors to love, and since I haven't read any other books by her, I'm very excited to read this one. It will be like a first date! ; ) It's coming out soon, so I won't have to wait that long!