Year-in-Review

Wow, it's the end of the year already! Though I just started this blog I figured I'd do a "Year-in-Review" type thing anyway. And since techniclly I've only read 3 (maybe 4) books that were released in 2011 my lists will be made up of books I've read for the first time this year. I actually read 37 books this year which for me is fairly awesome. I can't remember the last time I read that many books but I know it was before I started college... that was way to long ago. But now I'm back and there's totally awesome books out which makes it easier. My goal is to give regular reviews and meet great friends on here! Hope you all have a Magnificent 2012! Happy New Year from the Krazy Elf!!!

Top 5 Favorite Reads of 2011

Review for One for the Money

One for the Money

Author: Janet Evanovich

Pages: 290

Source: Checked-out from the Library

Summery (from GoodReads)

Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man.

Hey, It's Friday! Follow Friday & TGIF (#2)

Q: The New Year is here — and everyone wants to know your New Years Blogging Resolution! What are you going to try to revise, revamp and redo for 2012 on your blog?

Well, since I've just started this blog I would say my resolution is to work on my
blog layout more, keep it up even during school, and find something krazy elf to
do on it.

First & Last: What was the first book you read in 2011 and the last you finished in 2011? How do you feel about these books? Would you recommend them to other readers?

 The first book I read this year was A Christmas Carol. It was for a Victorian Lit class and I just loved it! If you haven't read it I highly recommend it, even if you know the story cause the original is better. The last book I read this year I just finished last night. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (hopefully a review will come soon). I've never laughed so much in a book and it still left a chill up my spine that left me running the tv all night. But since it' an adult book there I would recommend it for older readers.

Review for Clockwork Angel

Wow, eleven followers! I’m jumping up and down like a krazy person… or elf =) Hope you all had a great Christmas and are enjoying the last week of 2011! In the Krazy Elf world Santa brought me a Hunger Games wristband and Blood Red Road! Awesomeness! What did he bring you?

 Clockwork Angel

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA Steampunkish/Paranormalish

Page: 478

After crossing the ocean to find her brother, 16-year-old Tessa lands London (during the time of Queen Victoria) and into a heap of trouble. Instead of being reunited with her brother she is kidnapped by a couple of Downworlders called the Dark Sisters. Downworlders, Tessa soon finds out, are supernatural creatures she never imagined were real (vampires, warlocks, faeries, werewolves ect.) and that she was one of them.

She is saved by a group called the Shadowhunters, a group dedicated to upholding supernatural law and keeping peace. With them she learns more about the Downworld she is a part of, acquires help in finding her brother, and protection for herself from the mysterious figure called the Magister, the head of the organization The Pandemonium Club, who will stop at nothing to get Tessa and her powers.

Soon Tessa finds herself getting to know the occupants of the London Institute for Shadowhunters, particularly two boys around her age. Will and Jem are two of the most opposite friends you could find. Jem is level head and sweet while Will is wild and rash. Soon each one of them wheedled their way into her heart and she is experiencing butterflies in her stomach that she’s never felt before.

Soon a plot is uncovered and Tessa finds herself needing to make a choice between saving her brother and helping the Shadowhunters save the world.

Hey, it's Friday: Follow Friday & TGIF

 

 

 

 

Question of the Week: If you had to spend eternity inside the pages of a book which book would you choose and why?

Hmm, I would probably say Percy Jackson and the Olympians. They spend they time training with swords, bows, fighting, chariot racing and they fight monsters! Awesomeness! 

Oddly enough my other choice would have been Persuasion.... yeah, I got a wide range of interests sometimes.

Ginger's Question: Dear Santa: Which books made it to your Christmas wish list this year?

Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is Blood Red Road =) Seriously, just bring me that lovely Dystopian novel. I've been good... ish ;)

Waiting on Wednesday: Scarlet

***Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It highlights any upcoming Young Adults or Middle Grade book releases we are eagerly anticipating.***

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Scarlet

By: A.C. Gaughen

Publication date: February 14th 2012

Summary from GoodReads:

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

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I can't wait for this book! As my friends can attest I have been obsessed with Robin Hood for a bit (I watched all three seasons of Robin Hood BBC over Fall Break). I haven't found a RH-type book that has sounded interesting until I saw this one and it's about a chick in the gang of merry men! Can't wait!

Review for A Curse Dark as Gold

          So, two things happened this week in my Krazy Elf bookworld. 1: After months of talking about it I finally got enough money to get the Hunger Games Trilogy! and 2: I hit my goal in the 2011 GoodReads Reading Challenge! 35 books may not sound like a ton compared to how much my sister and some friends read but I can’t remember then last time I read that much in a year! Now I’m just waiting til Christmas when I can open a certain book shaped present under the tree ^_^

A Curse Dark as Gold

Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce

Genre: Fairy Tale Remake

Page: 392

            Well, this is kind of interesting considering my first post was about a Rumpelstiltskin remake but here I am again. I blame it on the show Once Upon A Time. Why did they have to make Rumpelstiltskin so incredibly cool? I like way too many villains… anyway… I thought this was a very interesting twist to the old fairy tale. It follows young Charlotte Miller who had just inherited a wool mill from her recently departed

Review of Prized (Birthmarked #2) by Caragh M. O'Brien

2^nd post! WAHAHAHA!!! I’m lovin’ Christmas break! I was able to finish this next book in less than 24 hours which for me is pretty awesome. I need to put more books on hold at the library if I’m going through them this fast. Still trying to find my groove on here which is probably why I’m babbling, on to the review!

 

Prized (Birthmarked #2) 

Author: Caragh M. O’Brien

Genre: YA Dystopian

Page Count: 356

(If you haven’t read the first book there could be spoilers but I’ll try not to put any)

This is the second book in the Birthmarked series and I couldn’t wait to read it. Though I though the first book was a little slow starting out,  once I got to the end I was in love with the two main characters (well, the main character and her love interest^_< ) . Gaia (It’s that an awesome name) Stone is a midwife on the run