Welcome! We could all use an extra hour for reading!
Here's where I post book reviews, feature literary tattoos, talk about upcoming books, discuss TV/movies based on books, and share info about giveaways and reading challenges.
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What Do I Read?
I mostly read books in the Paranormal/Urban Fantasy or YA genres, but I'll read just about any good book! You can find all of my reviews here.
Do you have any suggestions?
An Extra Hour Celebration
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Clock Rewinders on a Book Binge is where Amanda @ On a Book Bender and I shamelessly plug each other, share the fantastic posts, giveaways, or whatever else we’ve found and loved by other awesome bloggers (or authors!) during the week, and talk about the books we plan on reading in the coming week.
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What Happened at 25 Hour Books
Not a lot lately… but Shane got me a new laptop for xmas and that should give me the extra boost to catch up 
At On a Book Bender
Around the Book Blogging Community
Search Engine Terms
Nothing exciting this week. All about tattoos and Harry Potter badges.
GoodReads Stats
Read : 289
Currently Reading : 4
- On Kindle :
- added since last post :
- Wicked Intentions (Maiden Lane, #1)
- The Raven Prince (Princes Trilogy, #1)
- The Leopard Prince (Princes Trilogy, #2)
- The Serpent Prince (Princes Trilogy, #3)
- Master of Crows
- A Dark Kiss of Rapture
- Reluctant Partnerships
- Seduced By Shadows (Marked Souls, #1)
- The Accidental Human(Accidental Friends, #3)
- Accidentally Demonic(Accidental Friends, #4)
- Eternal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #1)
- Immortal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #2)
- Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1)
- Wish List : 54
The Week Ahead
I really have no idea. This is a best guess…
 Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting asThe Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.
Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
via Around the World Tours
- YA, paranormal, fantasy, dystopian -
Book Order (Gone With the Respiration)
- Dearly, Departed * * * *
- Dearly, Beloved (2012?)
Links
Author’s Website : www.liahabel.com
Author’s Twitter : @liahabel
Amazon : hardcover / eBook (69 reviews : 4.0 avg)
Add To Your GoodReads TBR List (686 ratings : 4.03 avg)
In Six Words
utterly unique with only minor annoyances
Why did I read this? And am I glad I did?
To be honest, I have no idea why I decided to read this one. I’m not a fan of zombie books (well at least not compared to other paranormals). However, I enjoyed this more than I expected. I was captured from the opening lines (I was buried alive.) until the last page. I wasn’t sold on the multiple shifting of POVs until later in the book (which was the annoyance mentioned in the Six Words). Overall I’d recommend this book to fans of YA fantasy.
I’ll be picking up the next in the series and other books by the author.
Brief Summary
Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
- via GoodReads.com
Plot/Pacing/Writing Style
The book picks up from the beginning and the mystery and action continue to build throughout the book in a way that kept me entranced. I loved the author’s writing style. It was often poetic without being too overdone.
The plot was fantastic. As you may know by now, as a science nerd I am overcritical of medical explanations for paranormal mythology. This one was done brilliantly. If there were a biological cause for zombies, prions would be it. Wonderful job Lia Habel! Wonderful and scary…
The setting was also very well developed. I’m not a fan of steam-punk, but this future copying the past era really worked for me.
Characters
At 26% I updated GoodReads with how shocked I was to be invested in the main characters so early. This was mainly due to Bram, but Nora grew on me as well.
Nora was an oddball for her time period. She was encouraged at a young age by her father to be interested in things little girls should not be. The book begins a year after her father’s death. Nora is not dealing well with her loss. However, once the action starts, I really liked her reactions and ability to adapt. I’m very much so looking forward to seeing more of her in the next book.
Bram can compete with any vampire love interest. He is smart, sweet, caring, brave, cute, and dead. His prologue had me hooked. His actions throughout the rest of the book had me falling for him. I really hope to see more of him.
The side characters were ok. I loved the other zombies, but wasn’t a huge fan of Pam’s (until the end). The bad guy was beautifully developed. I had no idea where to place him until the end.
Favorite Quotes
Dread became a solid, burning thing within me, something twisting my own flesh to its will, speeding my heart and making my skin slick with sweat.
- an example of what I loved about the author’s writing style
I knelt down to stroke the head of a black kitten, and it reared up for the contact. “The cute is strong in this one.”
- Got to love a Star Wars reference 
“Vampires are just zombies with good PR!”
- So true!
Other Reviews
Tiger Holland (All-Consuming Books) rated it 
Wicked Lil Pixie (Natasha) rated it 
Jennifer Sicurella rated it 
Candace rated it
I’m finally announcing the winner of my Extra Hour Celebration Giveaway.
Kenda @ Reader’s Edyn won books from Sierra Dean’s amazing Secret McQueen series.
To check out the interview with Sierra Dean, go here.
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And the good news? Shane bought me a new laptop for Christmas!!
Part of my lack of blogging has been due to my computer’s tendency to turn itself off. I’m hoping having the ability to blog easier will encourage me to add it back to my daily schedule
For more information on what An Extra Hour Celebration is and how to join in, go here!
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Some of you may remember me recently reading Something Secret This Way Comes by Sierra Dean. Not only did I give it 4 1/2 stars, but it busted me out of a slump and created a new Sierra fan girl. I barely blinked between stopping this one and starting the next. This is due to the evil cliffhanger. It was brilliant. Just like the love triangle was. Yes, you read that correctly. I said both the cliffhanger and love triangle were brilliant.
What kind of book pusher would I be if I didn’t force this on my friends?! And so I’m giving away a copies of the books and I was lucky enough to interview Sierra Dean!!
So check out the interview then enter to win the book. No, you don’t have to be participating in the read-a-thon to enter this giveaway, but you will get an extra entry.
1. 25 Hour Books : How would you describe your life in six words?
Sierra Dean : Busy, boring, fun, hilarious, exhausting, fulfilling.
2. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what do you listen to?
I’m music obsessed when I write. I NEED it. My go-to writing music is Florence and the Machine, but I’m definitely on the search for the next great writing album.
3. Secret’s love life makes your average love triangle look simple, what prompted you to include such devious romantic twists?
I love books with multiple love interests. It keeps things interesting. Amusingly enough, it’s probably the biggest complaint I hear about the books… “too many love interests!” Oh well, too bad. Anita Blake has slept with 33 different men in her series… certainly makes Secret’s paltry 4 love interests look not too crazy. I know where the story is going, so I find it funny how cranky people get about the love interests since I know not all of them remain love interests throughout the series.
4. Your lead gal loves her shoes! Do you share her addiction?
Absolutely! Secret has much MUCH fancier shoes than I do with her Jimmy Choo’s and Louboutin’s, but I own more shoes than is humanly necessary. They’re like art. I enjoy looking at them.
5. Do you tend to read books in the UF/PNR genre? Have you come across any must read books lately?
I LOVE UF/PNR, it’s definitely my favorite genre. Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series; Jaye Wells’s Sabina Kane series; Ann Aguirre’s Corine Solomon series and Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson books are all high on my list.
6. Is there anything you can tell us about the next book in the series? Title? Release Date? Hints about the story?
The third full length Secret McQueen novel is titled Deep Dark Secret, it’s due out March 2012 (JUST finished final edits yesterday!) and I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s a big twist in the Lucas/Secret/Desmond love triangle.
A: I love Florence. B: Wait, what?! Not all of them remain love interests…. C: I’m off to check out the Corine Solomon series. D: I have to wait until March?! E: THANK YOU so much for doing the interview Sierra!!
What is it?
A celebration of reading and day light savings time. Nov 6th will be a 25 hour day. Here at 25 Hour Books, that’s a big deal! And I can’t let it go by without using it as an excuse to read all weekend (and give away fun stuff)!!
When?
Anytime this weekend!! You can celebrate however you want, but here are a few suggestions:
- Read for 1 extra hour any time this weekend.
- Read during the “extra hour”. Central Time will be Nov 6, 2am going back to 1am.
- Read/book blog/communicate with book community for 25 hours this weekend. This is the option I’m doing.
- Read/book blog/communicate with book community for 25 hours straight.
How do I participate?
You can sign up here. Then tweet your updates using #25hrread or post updates on your blog or GoodReads.
What do I get out of it?
An excuse to read! Oh and I’ll also be giving away some fun stuff. Like a copy of Something Secret This Way Comes by Sierra Dean (and an interview with the author)! You’ll also get another shot at a Bones mug. And some gift card giveaways here and there.
Who is in this with me?
You can see the names and links to everyone that is participating here.
You can follow me @25hrbooks or on GoodReads.
Hope you can find the time to join us!!
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