Thursday Three

1) In a very non-book related activity, we've been playing a lot of our new Disney Infinity game over at our house.  My two girls are sick so my Kindergartener is home giving us lots of opportunity for play!  It's a super fun game and we are loving it! 

Easy enough for my 5 year old to play (mostly, sometimes she needs help, but she's not a big gamer and has never really played a game like this before -- so if your child is good on other games this would be perfect!)  but so entertaining enough  that my hubs and I have stayed up till past midnight the last few nights playing.  We had a good long laugh when we kept falling short on a challenge mini-game and at the end of one Jack Sparrow announced "Well that was horrible" just before the "Nice Disney narrator guy" said "Good try!". 

Plus, here's another little plug.  My husband helped code the game.  His company had a contract job with Avalanche (the main creators).  So go check it out!  And a hint -- buy the figurines NOW if you're gonna save the packs for Christmas or something.  They are on sale at walmart (but they don't advertise it in the store! They're just cheaper at checkout!)  Just an FYI. 

For more on the game go to: https://infinity.disney.com/

2) DOWNTON NEWS!!!!  I love this show!  And although I wasn't super in love with season 3...I am still very much looking forward to season 4.  Masterpiece has released the three new male cast members, and a bit of who their characters are.  Check that out here:

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Downton-Abbey-Men-1069333.aspx

3) And lastly, do you remember that AMAZING movie I went to go see with my friends at Sundance?  AUSTENLAND?  Adapted from Shannon Hale's novel?  Well it's out in theaters and being released all around the country and I am SO excited to see it again!  Here's the link so you can find it in your neck of the woods!

http://www.sonyclassics.com/austenland/dates.html

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Two Changes for the Two Year Anniversary

As you can see from opening the page, Off The Shelf has gotten a bit of a re-design! I have been trying to make some changes to the site for some time now, but the Blogger Template was being quite temperamental. I was unable to make small changes (font color, text size, etc.) in the template I had previously been using. In that case, I decided it might be time to try something totally different.

Upon scrolling down, you will notice all of the regular features of this blog can still be found where they had been. The sidebar on the right is still filled with lists of my favorite authors, book suggestions and links to other great book blogs.

I'm not sure I am totally in love with it yet, so the look might be a little different the next time you visit. (For those of you that view my blog via email, make sure to visit the actual webpage to see the changes!) What do you think? Let me know in the comments...


In order to make my book reviews more helpful and direct, I have decided to set in place a grading system. Books will now be rated on a scale of 1 to 10 in the following categories:

Story Line - ?/10
Character's Voice - ?/10
Writing Style - ?/10

---

Overall - ?/30

Friends have always told me I am never a reliable source when it comes to "how good a book is". I guess it's because I tend to say that every book I read is good, or fantastic, or "the best ever". I hope that with this new grading system, readers will be able to have a better understanding of my opinion and might help formulate their own.


I can't believe it has been two years already since I started Off The Shelf! Throughout that time, I feel I have grown as a writer, and a reader, and I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in those aspects. Thanks to all of the readers and followers of this blog. I hope what I have written in the past, and will write in the future will continue to be helpful, and inspiring.

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Thursday Three

1) Do you read books in verse?  I have read only a few and most of them I have loved.  The addition of verse to tell a story is like a living breathing element.  The words seem to mean more.  Their arrangement on the page a visual aid to the story. 

Some of my favorites are:  SONG OF THE SPARROW by Lisa Ann Sandell, GLIMPSE by Carol Lynch Williams, and our book club's pick this month INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai has been magical so far.  There's a reason it was a National Book Award winner!

2) I have been thinking about Harry Potter a lot lately.  I think I need to crack them open and give them a read again.  I think I want to start reading them with my daughter.  They are magical wonderful novels and I just adore them.  I wish she'd write something else for the children's world, or even like a Harry Potter the 2nd generation books! 

3) I absolutely LOVE book orders from schools.  It was something I loved participating in when I was in school, when I was getting my teaching degree, and when I was subbing.  Now my daughter is in school and I get her first book order and...

it was very underwhelming.

A list full of books that we already own or that she would have no interest in.  There's 2 books on the list I think I'll get.  But when I saw that flier I was hoping for more.  There was a time that book orders were a place for me to find NEW authors, NEW books.  Not just where to order the set of books of the movie that's coming out.   I sure hope they get better. 

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Winner of LONGING FOR HOME ARC Giveaway!

And the winner of our most recent giveaway is:

Aimee Ratliff!

An e-mail will be sent shortly to get your mailing address (since I forgot to ask for that this time around). 

Thank you to all who participated, and stay tuned for more awesome giveaways soon!

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Happy Book Lover's Day!

I wanted to send a big shout out to all my readers!  Today is book lover's day so grab a book and read today! 

Also, I was sent this really cool graphic to celebrate the occasion from http://ghergich.com Check them out for other cool graphics stuff!  And enjoy this one!


Illustration by Ghergich & Co.

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Blog Tour Review and Giveaway! LONGING FOR HOME by Sarah M. Eden

LONGING FOR HOME
by Sarah M Eden
https://www.facebook.com/SarahMEden




Placement in the Pile:  Middle of the Stack

Summary:
Twenty-six-year-old Katie Macauley has placed all her hope in Hope Springs, a small town in the 1870 Wyoming Territory. But if she wants to return home to Ireland to make amends with her estranged family, she'll need to convince the influential Joseph Archer to hold true to his word and keep her on his payroll as his housekeeper despite her Irish roots. The town is caught in an ongoing feud between the Irish and the "Reds" the frontiersmen who would rather see all the Irish run out of town and the Irish immigrants who are fighting to make a home for themselves in the New World. When Joseph agrees to keep Katie on as his housekeeper, the feud erupts anew, and Katie becomes the reluctant figurehead for the Irish townsfolk. As the violence escalates throughout the town, Katie must choose between the two men who have been vying for her love though only one might be able to restore hope to her heart.

Review:
Sarah M Eden joins Shadow Mountain's list of Proper Romance authors in this heartwarming series that spans a list of romantic Historical Fiction novels. 

LONGING FOR HOME follows the story of Kate Macauley and her struggles between reconciling her past and returning to her home in Ireland, and accepting a future in America with the man she loves. 

I generally love stories about Ireland, and found the tale of Hope Springs, Wyoming's great divide between Irish, and the rest of the town interesting. 

What LONGING FOR HOME lacked for me was a sense of purpose in the romance.  What was there was done well, but the love triangle that is promised in the summary of the book is less of a triangle than a third interested party that never expresses his feelings and is never really an option. I kept waiting for something more to happen.  But it never did. 

That being said, I loved the love story that was there and was rooting for this character the whole time.

An enjoyable read, and I was happy to hear there will be a second book to see what happens to the town of Hope Springs  and to Katie's life after this one has ended, because I did want more!

Giveaway!
And now it's time to enter to win my ARC of Longing for Home! Just fill out the entry form below!

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What's Happening in the Book World

 {The sun sets at the closure of another month}

Things in the literary world have been very, very busy lately - with everything from new publications to leaked pseudonyms and discoveries made about chocolate. The following are a collection of the most popular headlines buzzing around the Internet at the moment.

 

To start, have you been reading what you should this summer? With only a month left to go, you might want to check out The Huffington Post, as they have revealed the 7 Must-Reads of Summer.

 

There are only 10 more days until the highly-anticipated fourth and final installment of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It series is released on August 13th! Have you pre-ordered The Shade of the Moon yet? You can do so here, here and here!

 

The biggest hype in the book world currently is most certainly the surprise that J.K Rowling can write a crime novel...who knew? In April, Rowling wrote The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. After publication, the novel had only sold 1,500 copies in the UK, but since the leak made by The Sunday Times, sales of the novel have sky-rocketed - putting it at  #1 on this week's Best Sellers List.

 

Have you seen this week's New York Times Best Seller List yet? If not, be sure to check out the Young Adult category, where all four of John Green's novels have made it into the top 10, as well as two of Veronica Roth's.  

 

While on the subject of John Green, his tumblr has all of the need-to-knows about The Fault in Our Stars movie coming in 2014. (!!!) 

 

A new The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer was shown at Comic-Con in San Diego two weeks ago.

 

Happy belated birthday Harry Potter! Entertainment Weekly celebrated the book character's special day on Tuesday by naming 33 Great Things About Harry Potter (in honor of his 33rd birthday)

 

Last but certainly not least, a study recently conducted in Belgium proves that people are more likely to interact with merchandise and staff when a bookstore smells like chocolate.

 

 

On a more personal level, my own book news is that I am currently reading Saturday by Ian McEwan, one of the many books on my Summer Reading List. The novel is a little slow-moving so far, but I'm hoping it will pick up soon, as I'm not really one to abandon a book. (Speaking of abandonment...ever wonder what classics get abandoned the most, or at what point do most readers give up? Goodreads has the statistics.)

 

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Some not-totally book related info

My baby girl started Kindergarten today!  And she came home with a book from her teacher.  I am so excited to see her love of books and reading grow!  Sharing books with her is one of my favorite things!

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