100 Follower Giveaway @ Incandescent Enchantments

Celise over at Incandescent Enchantments is having a giveaway to celebrate her 100 follower milestone!





Two winners will have the chance to choose one book from the list.

1. The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
2. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter 
3. The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver
4. The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski
5. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
6. Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough
7. The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones
8. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (The Books of Bayern #1)
9. Matched by Ally Condie
10. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale (The Books of Bayern #2)

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway so there will be plenty of chances and ways to enter.

Diner (Pine Grove, PA)

I love finding new places to eat. Usually our lunch/dinner consists of grabbing a pizza at Flying J or a subway $5 footlong or some other fast food option. But last night we experienced Pure Stomach Ecstasy.

At exit 100 off I 81 in Pine Grove, PA there is a very awesome 50s Diner called....Diner. you can't miss it, it is next to the Pilot Travel Center and is lit up like the 4th of July. I mean this food is awesome. I had the Blue Moon Burger, blue cheese and bacon ( I replaced the bacon with sauteed onions) with fries (.99 extra) and A PICKLE! Oh so fabulous! If you get a chance check it out!

Hectic Week with More Crazy Life to Come

So we are coming toward the end of John Green Week and I still have not finished Looking For Alaska. The book is GREAT lemme tell ya, but I've had some pretty crazy life stuff going on.

My parents finally hauled their slow behinds to South Carolina around the 4th. LEFT my darling cat, Ella, in Tennessee. They claimed she hid somewhere in the house and they couldn't find her. *taps foot in a "I don't believe you" way*

I cried for two hours. Then I became sick. See thing is stress and Lupus don't mix. For some reason everytime I get stressed out, I get sick. All kinds of unmentionable things that I won't put into detail. Let's just say it is not good to eat then get stressed.

Anyways, so Ella was left, I cried, screamed, threatened violence on people in my head. But good news, she was found. How a 20lb cat gets into the attic I don't know. She is at a neighbor's house. I will rescue her tomorrow, or Mike will suffer dire consequences. Then I will take her home to SC. So happy.

We did stop through SC on our way to Florida with a load. My mother procrastinated for two days and wouldn't unpack ANYTHING! Instead she stayed around my uncle and his fiance's house.  My dad got sick, went into the hospital right as we were leaving to unpack things without her. (Hopefully this hospital will get him well again) And so my brothers, Mike, and I had to start unpacking the majority of the house belongings.

First thing we did was set up my parents room. (Well after making sure the bathroom was stocked with toliet paper and towels.) Then I unpacked the dry goods and kitchenware. So Parents room is good, kitchen is good. My brothers set up the televisons in each room, organized a temporary arrangement for seating in the living room, and set up the bed in my room. (This was so that at least one extra bed was ready to go)

We dropped our load in Florida then hightailed to Georgia...where we are now sitting for the moment so that Mike could get a nap in so we won't be too early for our load. Also I was not awoken earlier today when we arrived at the truck terminal which has free WiFi. Therefore, my chance for plentiful WiFi was wasted. *shaking fist at Mike* So this post looks like crapola.

And those are my excuses for why I haven't finished Looking For Alaska. Grief, Manual Labor, and No WiFi. Plus it is dark and I slept through the day cause I got NO rest at my Uncle's house in SC.

Giveaway at I Eat Words AND at Novel Thoughts!!

I Eat Words is kicking off John Green Week in style. They are having a giveaway for one lucky winner. The contest is open to those who live in a country The Book Depository ships to.

So go over to I Eat Words and join the fun. And don't forget to be awesome.

*Edit* Another giveaway!

Novel Thoughts is giving away a SIGNED AND PERSONALIZED copy of The Fault in Our Stars! But wait...there's more! They will be including a S/P copy of Looking for Alaska!! Oh my word. The excitement is toooo much.

Now I am going to tell Mike the Hubby it is time for some food cause I am starving! We are in Virginia right now waiting to deliver a load. Then it is off to Sunny Florida! Already have my sunscreen ready, can't forget that as a Lupie the sun is not my friend!

Day 1: John Green Week - Looking For Alaska

It is finally time to kick off John Green Week! In celebration of the January 10th release of The Fault in Our Stars, many of the book blogging community will be reading/re-reading John's books, dicussing the books, and just generally have a good ole time.
I will be celebrating by reading Looking For Alaska for the first time, this is also my first John Green book. I have been saving the books for this special week. I want to experience the magic for the first time during a celebration of all things Green!
So if you would like to particpate or want to see what everyone hosting is doing, please check out the list of blogs on my sidebar and let the joyous celbration begin!

Bad Day

Having a very, very bad day. I am in a lot of physical and emotional pain right now. Good news is after much debate, I am reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I read a review on another blog recently saying it had a lot of rape and sandwich making. And a friend of mine said it had a lot of product placement but I should still read it. So, I am gonna get started on it. Maybe I'll finish most of it tonight.

Review: The Emerald Atlas

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Summary from Goodreads:

John Stephens' aptly-titled new fantasy trilogy begins auspiciously with a nimble, fast-paced tale of three siblings. Kate, Michael, and Emma have suffered through ten years of odious orphanage "care"; now they have slipped into the care of the eccentric, disturbingly mysterious Dr. Pym. While exploring their new home, the children discover a magical green book. With that discovery, a decade of tedium dissolves into cascades of dangerous time travel adventures and struggles with a beautiful witch and decidedly less attractive zombielike Screechers. High early reader marks for strong characterization and battle scenes.


My Review:

I finished this right before Christmas so I didn't get a chance to write up a review right away. And I had a bit of trouble during the first few chapters. It didn't seem to catch my attention. But then I found myself drawn into the story. Kate, Michael, and Emma are just like any other trio of siblings. They fight, they squabble, but they love each other so much they can't bear to be parted. Each has there own distinct personality. John Stephens did a great job fleshing out his characters. This book focused mostly on Kate and I assume the next books will deal with Emma and Michael.

I loved the setting. The magical town of Cambridge Falls made me feel like I was right there along with the children. As the action increased I was waiting with every paragraph. I found myself needing to go back a few times because I was reading with such speed. There are a lot of details in this book and the story was wonderful. It wraps up nicely but still leaves you aching for the next book.

Overall, I say young readers, and adults as well, will enjoy this magical tale of three siblings who find out their destiny within the world.



View all my reviews

Free Ebook Alert! Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

For those interested ereading bookworms out there a few days ago I stumbled upon FREE ebooks of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. I haven't had a chance to read this particular book yet. It is available on both B&N and Amazon.

NOOK Book (eBook):

Kindle Edition

Sadly it is not free on Kobo Books. But I'm sure if you have a Kobo, you can get the ebook for free from B&N and then sideload it to the Kobo.

Referring Sites on Traffic

Open Question to anyone who may stumble upon this.

How in the world do I get rid of domar.ru/ (do not go to this site it is SPAM!) as a referring site on my traffic? It and one other spamming site appear to be the most traffic I have. So yea that means I seriously have no followers. :( That's ok I guess cause I don't really put a LOT of effort into this. But it has me thinking maybe I should....

So anyone got any suggestions for what content would spice up this old joint? I deleted a LOT of older posts. Like seriously, I went through a very bad time when I was sick and this blog helped me through but I decided it was best for people to NOT see what I went through. It really had me at my knees. 

So if anyone hears me gimme a shout! Just to let me know I've not gotten lost in the great abyss of the interwebz. Here are some things I'm thinking about doing more.

• History
• Archaeology
• More Book Reviews
• Book Related Stuff I Run Upon
• Updates on What is Going on in the Truck

My First NetGalley Review: A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

Title: A Greyhound of a Girl
Publisher: ABRAMS
Imprint: Amulet Books
Publication Date: May 01, 2012
ISBN: 9781419701689

Author: Roddy Doyle
Category: Fiction - Juvenile: Other

Summary and Author Information: 
Mary O'Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can't let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary's street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny's own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

Roddy Doyle is the author of nine novels. He won the Man Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. His novels have been made into popular films, including The Commitments and The Snapper. He lives and works in Dublin, Ireland.


A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was wonderful. It really captured the sadness of losing a loved one. I felt myself relating to the characters, I cried when they cried, and laughed at Mary's cheeky comments. I adored the moments between daughter and mother. The author was great at bringing about touching scenes without making them come across cheesy or cliche.


The amount of dialogue used was sufficient I feel for the setting of the story. I loved the language used by the characters and how they played off each other. I do not know much about Ireland or it's language but to me the setting seemed very realistic even though there was a ghost involved.


The love felt by the four women and their acceptance of the beginning and ending of life. Even though Mary is just on the edge of womanhood, she has a mature nature that shows she will be a strong woman once she grows up. The parallels between Mary's excitement of coming womanhood and Emer's apprehension about her impending death reflected each other in a subtle but moving tribute to the processes of life and death.


There wasn't anything spooky about this ghost story. It was more of a reflection on the different stages of life. The author provided a well paced and touching story that spans through each characters lives. Their childhoods, their adulthoods, and for two of them, their deaths. I felt the flashbacks where written in a subtle yet effective way. They tied the story together beautifully and left no questions unanswered.


I will definitely be looking for more works by Roddy Doyle.


View all my reviews