Top Ten Tuesday (83)- My Top Ten Characters I'd Name A Dog or Cat

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

October 18: Ten Characters I'd Name A Child/Dog/Cat/Car/Etc. 

I don't have kids nor will I be having any so these characters names will be for my future furbabies whether they be a dog or a cat. I tend to have more male animals so there will be more male names.


1. Valek or Janco from Maria V. Snyder's Study and Glass books! Valek if the animal is mysterious or aloof so most likely a cat and Janco if the animal is fun loving so most likely a dog.

2. Rhysand (Rys for short) from Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns And Roses series.


3. Magnus from Morgan Rhodes's Falling Kingdom's series.

4. Zo from Jennifer Jenkins Nameless series.

5. Vhalla from Elise Kova's Air Awakens series.

6.  Irial from Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series.

7. Roar from Veronica Rossi's Under The Never Sky series.

8. Ash from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

9. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice. Who would I be without my own Darcy?

10. Lestat from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, not gonna lie I've wanted to name a cat Lestst for a long time lol

So what about you? What are your favorite character names? And check back next week for my Top Ten Halloween-ish reads!! 

Hugs,

Jaime

Fantastic Fives- My Five Year Anniversary Stop

Hey everyone welcome to my stop on the Fantastic Fives Celebration! 

Have you heard of the event? Well Two Chicks On Books (Me) and Me My Shelf And I decided to host a massive birthday celebration for all book blogs turning 5 this year! 5 is a pretty huge milestone and we wanted to CELEBRATE!

5 years is quite a milestone in the book blogging community! I'm sure you've seen blogs you love come and go over the time that you have been here for many reasons. We all know it can be hard to keep up, to read as much as you feel needs reading, finding the time to post – and so we want to put the focus on those that have made it to 5 – like Amber and I!

Here's all the details of the event!

Who

Any book blog that has already, or will turn 5 years old before the end of 2015!

What and When

Starting on November 8th and lasting as long as it needs to – each day a new blog will have the spotlight on them with a small interview and a giveaway of their choice. 

Now on to my post!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Jaime my 5 year blogaversary will be on December 30! I started blogging because I love books and wanted to share my love with other people. Over the years my blogging has actually helped me turn my love of books into a career! I started out as an intern at Entangled Publishing and was hired as a publicist and now am the Publicity and Marketing Director at Month9Books! I also co-own a blog tour company with one of my BFF's and fellow Fantastic Fiver Rachel from Fiktshun!

Outside my reading/blogging life. I am a huge sports fan I love NASCAR and The Oakland Raiders and A's! I love a good beer and cooking, And I love TV and movies! 

How did you get started blogging? 

I was a stay at home caretaker and I read all the time. I saw a few book blogs around and though "hey I could do that". So I asked a friend if she would like to do a blog together since I didn't think I'd have the time to do it alone. And Two Chicks on Books was born! About a year in I parted ways with my partner though since I found myself doing most of the work but I kept the name since people already knew it.

How did you pick the name for your blog?

Well there were 2 of us to start so it seemed like a cute name.

If you could go back in time and tell your newbie blogger self 1 thing what would it be?

Don't have a partner! I am much happier running the blog on my own. Also don't feel like you have to post a review for every book you read or participate in every meme you see.

What have you learned in your 5 years of blogging?

That you need to blog your way. There is no right or wrong way to blog. I've learned a bunch of other stuff too but I think this is the most important thing to remember.

What was the first ARC or book you ever received from a publisher?

Magicians Muse by Linda Joy Singleton. I didn't get this from a publisher I got it from the author. She's a local author and friend and I adore this series so she sent me an ARC.

First publisher ARC? It was an eGalley Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton. I wasn't established enough to get a paper ARC of this one but back then I used Netaglley quite often.

My first paper ARC? That was The Girl of Fire And Thorns by Rae Carson and Fateful by Claudia Gray. Thanks Harper Teen for giving a fledgling blogger a chance! I will always remember that!

When you’re not reading or blogging, what can we find you doing?

Cooking, travelling, or doing yard work, or watching TV! I'm a huge fan of shows like Supernatural, Arrow, Heroes Reborn, Blindspot, DaVinci's Demons, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. I also love watching sports. 

Here’s where it gets hard everyone!!!

The Fives: (and yes, you can ONLY have 5! *muwhahahah*)

Yes I know Amber and I came up with these but they still suck lol

Five Favorite Books

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Five Favorite Book Boyfriends

Valek from Maria V. Snyder's Study & Glass series.

Hector from Rae Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns series.

Ash from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

Adrian Ivashkov from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series.

Shane McAllister from Jeri Smith-Ready's WVMP Radio series.

Five Favorite Book Quotes

I have way too many so I'm going to not do this one lol

Five Blogging Tips For New Bloggers

Blog your way. There is no right or wrong way to blog and those people who tell you there is are wrong.

Don't worry about getting all the ARC's! Even established blogs miss out on ARC's. And trust me there will come a time when you have so many books you won't know what to do with them all.

Read what you want when you want and read for fun! If you start scheduling things the fun goes away.

Don't participate in memes just to get followers. Participate because you want to meet new bloggers and actually comment on their posts. You will meet a lot of great people participating in memes as well as on social media so get out there and be social!

Have fun! This is the most important one in my opinion. If you're not having fun you're not doing it right. Blogging is for fun it's not a job.

Five Blogs You Want The World To Know About

These are easy since I love these ladies! The top 3 are some of my closest friends that I have known forever. The last 2 are newer bloggers that I've gotten to know over the past year and they are doing some awesome things!

Fiktshun

Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

Tales of A Ravenous Reader

A Perfection Called Books

Read Write Love 28

The Giveaway

I will be having a HUGE giveaway that will include a kindle paperwhite, ARC's, and swag on my actual blogaversary which is December 30th so make sure to stop back for that.

For this giveaway I'm giving away a stack of fall 2015 ARC's and a couple of early 2016 ARC's, US Only.

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Fantastic Fives Schedule

November 8 Books Etc.

November 9 Fiktshun

November 10 Two Chicks On Books

November 11 Me, My Shelf and I
November 12 Bewitched Bookworms
November 13 Novel Novice

November 14 Book Angel Bookutopia- No post

November 15 Maer Wilson

November 16 Taking It One Book At A Time

November 17 YA Book Shelf

November 18 Musings of a YA Reader

November 19 Bookish Lifestyle

November 20 Once Upon A Twilight
November 21 Stories & Sweeties

November 22 Bookaholics Anonymous

Top Ten Tuesday (47)- My top 10 favorite Vampire Books

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

October 27: Halloween themed freebie

I'm going with top 10 vampire books and there's quite a few adult ones on this list.

1. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice acutally all the early Vampire Chronicles Books. Yes she may have gone off the rails as of late but this is still one of my all time favorites.

2. The Darkyn Series by Lynn Viehl. Adult but really awesome!

3. The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J.R Ward. I may have not read the last few books butI do love this series.

4. Dracula by Bram Stoker. It's a classic and I love it.

5. I, Vampire by Michael Romkey. I love the way he used historical figures as vampires.

6. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. This one is super long but totally worthwhile.

7. The Vampire Academy Series and Bloodlines Series by Richelle Mead. Pure awesomeness!

8. The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith. Only the first 4 the rest sucked especially the ghostwritten ones.

9. The Blood of Eden Series by Julie Kagawa. I think this is my favorite series of here! Dystopian with vampires.

10. The Evernight Series by Claudia Gray. This is one of my all time favorites!

I have a few honorable mentions too.

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Night World by L.J. Smith

So what about you? What are your favorite vampire books? And come back next week for my  Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward To Their Sophomore Novel 

Hugs,

Jaime

Top Ten Tuesday (45)- My Top Ten Author Duos You'd LOVE To See Write A Book Together

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

October 13: Top Ten Author Duos You'd LOVE To See Write A Book Together 

There's a ton of authors that I can think of for this lol

1. Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs. They may be married but they need to write a book together. :)

2. Dan and Robinson Wells. I'd love to see what this team of brothers would come up with!

3. Maria V. Snyder and Rae Carson. With the amazing world building and compelling characters they both write. These two could write one EPIC high fantasy together!

4. Sabaa Tahir and Renee Ahdieh.I think these two besties could write an amazing story!

5. Claudia Gray and Dan Wells (yes he's on the list twice lol) I bet these 2 could write one amazing sci-fi with dual POV's!

6. Cat Winters and Katherine Longshore. I bet these two ladies could write an amazing historical series together!

7. A.G. Howard and Marie Rutkoski. With these 2 writing together I think we could have one hell of a fantastic fantasy.

8. Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter. These two together could write a paranormal series (YA, NA, or Adult) that would probably be the best paranormal series ever.

9. Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard. Yes I know they have an online sci-fi serial but I'd like to see them write a book or a series for print.

10. Julie Kagawa and Melissa Marr. These two would make fae magic together :)

So what about you? What authors would you like to see write a book together? And come back next week for my 10 Wishes I'd Ask The Book Genie To Grant Me.

Hugs,

Jaime

Top Ten Tuesday (38)- My Top Ten Auto-buy Authors.

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

August 18: Top Ten Of Your Auto-buy Authors.



Most of these are going to be the same as lat week my auto buy authors tend to be the ones I've read the most books by.

1. Maria V. Snyder. I buy everything from her!

2. Melissa Marr. I love Melissa and will buy all of her books even if I don't read them all lol.

3. Julie Kagawa. Julie's been an auto buy ever since I fell for Prince Ash. I've loved every book she's written

4. Jeri Smith-Ready. I buy all of her books YA and Adult. 

5. Claudia Gray. I own every book she's ever written and I will buy anything she writes in the future.

6. Richelle Mead. I have buy all of her books except for her adult ones.

7. Lesley Livingston. I adore everything she writes!

8. Rae Carson. As long as she keeps writing amazing fantasy books I will buy the shit out of them.

9. Morgan Rhodes/Michelle Rowen. I have loved all of her books!

10. Sarah J. Maas. Same as Rae. As long as she keeps writing amazing fantasy books I will buy the shit out of them.

So what about you? Who are your auto buy authors? And come back next week for my Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101 (I think I'll be doing YA Fantasy 101)!

Hugs,

Jaime

Top Ten Tuesday (29)- Top Ten Books I'd Love To See As Movies/TV Shows

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

June 2: Top Ten Books I'd Love To See As Movies/TV Shows

I'll be honest here I think most YA books that have been turned into movies would have probably been better being TV shows. There's more room to tell the story and stay true to the source material. That's why most of this list will be TV shows instead of movies.


1. The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead- Yes I know we had a movie for book 1 but it wasn't very good. Also I think it would have been better as a TV series.

2. The Infernal Devices Series by Cassie Clare- I love this series and it would be a perfect Penny Dreadful like TV series for YA fans.

3. The Study Series by Maria V. Snyder- With Fantasy taking over TV I think it's time that this could be made into an awesome TV show. Plus there's tons of material that it could be around for a long time!

4. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir- yes I know it's been optioned. I have my fingers crossed that it actually becomes a movie.

5. Claudia Gray's Firebird series- This would be an awesome TV series. I would love to see who they cast as Paul.

6. The Testing Series by Joelle Charbonneau- I'd love to see this be made into a movie trilogy. I think it would definitely hold it's own against The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner! With the right script and cast it could even be better!

7. The Wrath & The Dawn Series by Renee Ahdieh- This fairy tale retelling would be a hot TV show!

8. The Blood of Eden Series by Julie Kagawa- Julie's books would make an awesome dystopian vampire TV series!

9. Alienated series by Melissa Landers- We need more sc-fi alien shows on TV. I miss Roswell and Starcrossed was gone even before it got a real chance and I think this series would be perfect to fill it's spot.

10. The Artisans by Julie Reece- I would love, love, love to see this as a movie!

So this is my list. What about you? What books would you like to see turned into a TV show or movie?

And come back next week for my Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015!

Hugs,

Jaime

Top Ten Tuesday (5)-Top Ten Characters I Wish Would Get Their OWN Book

Hi and welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! Looks like I'll be sticking with this one for a while since I enjoy this meme!

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

November 11: Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their OWN Book (minor or just maybe a semi main character you wish a book was from their POV)

This one I thought would be easy there's a ton of characters I love right? But when I got to thinking about it I'm not sure how many would be great in their own book but here's my 10.

1. Ari and Janco from THE STUDY and THE GLASS Books by Maria V. Snyder. Yeah, yeah I know there's 2 here but these two are a package deal and I love Janco but those two together are hilarious!

2. Kenji from Tahereh Mafi's SHATTER ME Series! Kenji was for me one of my favorite characters in the book! Yeah I loved Juliette and Warner (not Adam) but If I had to pick I would have said screw both Adam and Warner and ran off with Kenji!

3.Raffe from Joelle Charbonneau's THE TESTING Series. He's such an interesting character and even though he's only in the last 2 books I fell hard for this guy! I'd love to see a POV from him about his life since he didn't have to go through the Testing like Cia did.

4. Blake from Wendy Higgins' SWEET Trilogy. Doesn't everyone love Blake? This kid... the Duke of Envy's son would be so awesome to read about he leads a colorful life.

5. Nolan from Page Morgan's THE DISPOSSESSED Series. Yes, I know he has scenes from his POV (cough confessional scene cough) but I'd read a whole damned book just about him!

6. Jackal from Julie Kagawa's BLOOD OF EDEN Series. This so much!!! I freaking loved his character and would love to read about him when he was turned.

7. Red from A.G. Howard's SPLINTERED series. This chick is crazy times a thousand! I'd love to see what made her that way.

8. Kat from Gena Showalter's THE WHITE RABBIT CHRONICLES. I adore her and her relationships with Ali and the crew. It's be cool to see her POV since she's one of the non slayers in the group. Also some sexy times with Frosty would be cool too ;)

9. Felix from Sarah Cross's BEAU RIVAGE Series. Yes I know he's the bad guy but if you've read the book you can't help feel bad for this dude. I kinda (not kinda I really) love him. He can't help what he is, it's his curse.

10.Roar from Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY Series. I know he has a novella but I need more! I'd read a whole series from his POV!


So this is my list. What about you? What would you re-read if you had the time?

And come back next week for theTop Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get

Hugs,
Jaime

Blog Tour- TALON by Julie Kagawa and a Giveaway!

Hey y'all I'm thrilled to be a host on the TALON blog tour! I adore Julie Kagawa and when I was asked to participate I was honored and said heck yeah! I have an interview with the Main Character, Ember for you today so check it out and get to know her better before you read the book. Oh and make sure to stick around and enter the giveaway! 
Haven't heard of TALON? Check it out!

Title: TALON

Author: Julie Kagawa

Pub. Date: October 28, 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 400

Formats: Hardcover, audio

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | BookDepository

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Now on to the interview!

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Sure!  My name is Ember Hill, I have a twin brother named Dante, I like surfing, action movies, volleyball, junk food, and fire.  And flying.  I guess I should also mention that I'm a dragon.  But I'm not really supposed to tell anyone that, so you didn't hear it from me.

2. What's your favorite thing about being a dragon?

Flying, definitely flying.  Nothing else really compares.  Surfing is the closest I can come right now, but if I could be myself without fear, I'd go flying every day.

3. Why do you spend so much time in human form?

It's for our protection.  We have to hide our true forms from the Order of St. George, who are crazy genocidal dragonslayers and who would murder us till we died from it.  Also, if a twenty foot dragon walked into a gas station looking for munchies, there would probably be a panic.

4.  Who is your best friend?

My brother, Dante.  He can be a little...uptight, and doesn't like breaking the rules.  But growing up, it was always us against the world, and I know he'll always be on my side.  Even if he thinks I act crazy sometimes.

5. What are you looking forward to this summer, now that you'll be living among humans?

Just...well, everything, really.  Waking up when I want to.  Not having to be in Human Training classes all the time.  Meeting other people my age.  Finally having some fun.  Yeah, sounds about perfect to me.

Thanks Ember for stopping by!

About Julie:

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all-time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian shepherd who is too smart for his own good and the latest addition, a hyperactive Papillon puppy.

Find Julie Online:

Website |  Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

“Catch the Dragon Contest”: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a dragon will appear on a different blog and stay there for 48hrs. Once you have found the dragon, click on it and you will be directed to a Rafflecopter entry form for the Grand Prize Giveaway! To enter, you must answer the daily question found at the tour stop!!!

Where could the dragon appear? On all Book Blogger Tour Hosts and The Harlequin Paranormal Blog, so go now and catch yourself a dragon! Will you find it? And will you be able to keep it?

“Catch the Dragon” - Question: 

Which of Julie's swoon worthy male characters would you most like to meet in real life?

Giveaway Info:

Each tour stop is offering up a finished copy of TALON!

Five lucky grand prize winners will receive one of Julie’s amazing dragon figurines as well as some fun signed swag. To enter for the grand prize, you MUST follow the tour each day, find and catch the dragon, and answer the daily question.

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open to US/Canada.

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Check out the Tour Schedule for more awesome posts!

Thursday, October 2nd – Harlequin Blog

Monday, October 6th – Jessica at Step into Fiction

Wednesday, October 8th – Katie’s Book Blog

Friday, October 10th – Page Turners

Monday, October 13th – Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, October 15th – Mundie Moms

Friday, October 17th – Fiktshun

Monday, October 20th – Two Chicks on Books

Wednesday, October 22nd – YA Interrobang

Friday, October 24th – Supernatural Snark