Lost at the Con Review

If I were asked to choose 3 words about Lost at the Con by Bryan Young I would say: 

DISILLUSIONED WRITER, HONEST ABE, HILARIOUS

I love that this first book I was asked to review was such a great one! I really liked Lost at the Con and plan on keeping it on my kindle to reread when I need a dose of hilarious cynicism in my life! I might end up buying my bf a copy as well because, he is a nerd that I could see attending something like Griffin* Con.

The book is about Cobb who has traded in his freelance writing for a steady paycheck, churning out articles about topics he couldn't care less about. Cobb's editor has ordered Cobb to attend Griffin* Con in Atlanta, GA  The book is written as if we were in Cobb's brain and we hear all his thoughts, daydreams, and watch his actions. He is a rude drunk who is pretty judgmental of the ones around him and at the beginning and looks at everyone as a walking stereotype. But his observations made me smile! He's also wiling to have his stereotypes challenged and he's a very dynamic character! "He sounded like anyone else. Not just a geek. Maybe he was a little more like me than I'd care to admit." Sometimes I'd laugh at the way he looked at someone or the way he reacted to President Abe Lincoln coming back to life as a bionic, steampunk Honest Abe! (Interested yet? I LOVED the steampunk Pres in this book! :D )

I liked Cobb. He was funny and willing to admit his flaws. There were times when his brain (the writing) seemed to flow like mine. I have "imaginings" where I daydream about all sorts of random things and at one point Cobb has a daydream of killing his editor where "For some reason, I had his necktie tied around my melon like a headband cutting into my thick black hair and my sleeves were cut and frayed at the edges." His mind runs on tangents sometimes that make me smile. He describes his assignment as Godforsaken at one times then continues with "Maybe not God since I was never one for bearded sky deities. At the very least, it was forsaken by me. Maybe I'm God. Maybe I have a God complex."  Cobb's observations and view on life made me laugh and I liked him even when he was having trouble liking himself. I loved watching Cobb go on this journey of Griffin* Con and life and the changes in him. I also like how Young shows Cobb realizing his changes and what they mean and becoming fired up again. 

 I don't want to reveal too much about this book but I will say, it is laugh out loud funny and I highly recommend it to those geeks who are tired of being pushed around, or those football playing All-American types who are willing to see themselves in a harsh light. Heck, I recommend it to everyone! :) I expected something like a thriller or a mystery when I read the description "There, he finds all of the science fiction, fantasy, and cosplay he would expect, but he also finds something more sinister: a seedy underbelly of geeky debauchery, slash fiction, booze, sex, and drugs." It was instead more of an observational comic view of a man changing his life and just being... awesome. I found myself eagerly turning the pages in this book (well, pressing the over button) because I wanted to know what happened to poor Cobb next! In this book Cobb looks at his life and examines the balance between happiness and stability in his life and it was great to see him choose..... what he chose at the end. ;) Find Young's book at Amazon as kindle book here or hardcover here!


I was asked to review this book but the views and slight rambling are my own!

Reviews and Interviews!

I love to read as you know and I have posted in the Author forum on Amazon and I now have many books to read and review and authors to interview! I'm so excited about this! It's kind of stupid and girlish I suppose but I've never talked to an actual author!
The books I have to review so far are:

Lost at the Con by Bryan Young- Done! Review here

Deadline by James A. Anderson- Done! Review here

The Zarder by Sara Jo Easton- Done! Review here

The Survival of Cade by Sharon L. Reddy- a science fiction that sounds really interesting! I'm really looking forward to reading this one, even though I'm not big on science fiction!

The Counterfeit by Tammie Clarke Gibbs- done! Review to come! :) 

Marty Boggs & The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb by M.T. Acquaire- this is one is described as a "YA supernatural fantasy" They'd also give me an interview! :) 

Gather Sticks Along the Way by G. Tyler Mills- This one seems really cool. It talks about a man's struggle with the disappearance with his son and his faith.

Great American Thing by Ostrom Lexington- Apparently another science fiction but it looks really interesting! The author has offered an interview and maybe even a free download if I get some comments what what!

RAINGUN by John Blackport- this one is a fantasy about a good guy struggling with his conscience and reality about whether or not to rebel against his tyrannical government. This one is free from smashwords so I'd love it if someone else would love to read it with me! I must repeat the warning of the author however, it contains graphic violence and explicit sex.






WHEW! And I have another 7 people asking me to review their work! I hope I can find some great new reads and authors from this and I hope you'll do the same! I can't wait to talk to actual authors and tell y'all what all I think of their work! :) I am planning on interviewing these authors but I won't let that stop me from telling you the truth of what I think of their works. I promise. Now, if I disappear for a couple days and don't post as much y'all can see why. I'll be reading! :) I'm so looking forward to this and once I start reading Great American Thing I'll write up another post of the books I'll be reviewing! :)

Support Your Public Library Challenge!

So I've decided on another fun challenge! This one is a support your public library challenge and the levels sound pretty big with 12, 24, 36, and 37+. The rules are no rereads but all forms are ok. This is good for me because my public library actually has a pretty extensive selection of ebooks that I can check out and read on my kindle. I'm a poor college kid and most of my books come from the library- like 97% and the books I'll be reading for other challenges will be from the library! I think I'm going to sign up for this one at level...... 4! I plan on reading more than 37 books and I'll post a list of them and possibly a review even if/when I go over 40 or so!

Check out the sign up post for this great challenge here! I hope you'll join me cause these challenges seem pretty amazing! :)

1. Mastiff by Tamora Pierce

Goodreads

I joined goodreads today! I don't know what I was expecting but this wasn't it. I rated a couple of books that I've read and I've seen a couple more that look interesting. So far the recommendations aren't that great but while looking through the books they ask me to rate I have seen some that are similar to the books I've read that look quite interesting. There is also a giveaway place on goodreads! There may be 1, 3, 5, or 10 copies to be given away and 500 or more entries but some of these books sound really interesting! I'd love to win an ARC to read and write up a review on here. Maybe I could even host a giveaway from books that I win and reviewed or books I've gotten but don't feel like reviewing! :) So far I've entered about 10 of the giveaways ending tonight and I'll keep entering the ones that sound really good and maybe I'll get an email tomorrow saying I won one or two! :)

What Would Jane Do Reading Challenge 2012

Ok so I have picked out a couple challenges I think I'm going to work on and I've decided the challenge about Jane Austen and I'll enter into the Jane Austen and Beyond category with a mix of books by Jane and books that include a variation of her books at the level of Expanding Emmagination. I'm going to try to read 1-3 books by Jane and 1-3 books that are in an other category!

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice


Other: Dawn of the Dreadfuls Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Series, Book 1
Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard by Belinda Roberts

I'll update this list with more of Jane's books after I've read these! :) Wish me luck!

You can find the link to this challenge here. I hope you decide to join me! I've started Pride and Prejudice a couple times but I've yet to finish. Hopefully this challenge will be the kick in the pants I need to finish it! :)

Reading Challenges!

How much is too much for these reading challenges? Because they seem really fun! I just entered the eclectic challenge today but then did another search for 2012 book blog reading challenges and I found a couple that look really cool! :D
I am looking now at the:
adoption reading challenge- 4 different levels: 3 books, 6 books, 12 books and 20 books-- thinking about the first level of this one because I have a nonfiction that looks great and a fiction that I checked out today
Ireland reading challenge- 4 different levels: 4 books, 6 books, 8 books, 10+ books -- this one seems really cool! I would love to enter the first level! :)

 I don't know how many I should enter though! I don't want to commit to reading too many books with 2 semesters of college to go through next year but I love to read and I can read a couple good books in one day! :) I think I will start updating this post with other challenges I'm interested in and their links so that if any of y'all want to read more about them and join or just try to read the theme without joining the challenges you'll have a list of the ones I think look interesting hahahaa.

Thinking about: 
romance reading challenge- 5 romance novels-- this one wouldn't be difficult AT ALL! :)
merely mystery challenge-- with the Down on her luck gumshoe category I would just have to read 2 of my fun cozy mysteries! I think I'll end up joining this one since I checked out 4 cozy mysteries today! :)
War Through the Generations- WWI challenge- any kind of book with WWI as the primary or secondary theme with the levels 1-3, 4-10, and 11+ --- sounds really interesting and I'm sure I could manage 1 book- maybe it could count as my nonfiction in the eclectic!
Titanic challenge- a book or movie, fiction or non-fiction about the Titanic- 3 levels: 3, 6, and 12
Support Your Public Library - 1st level of 12 public library books!
Ebook Challenge - this one depends if crossover from the ebooks to other challenges is allowed! :)

For a host of other challenges you should check out Novel Challenges where there is a couple pages of challenges!
other challenges I've found you might be interested in: 
whats in a name challenge- 6 books along different themes: 1. book w/ a topographical feature, 2. something you'd see in the sky, 3. creepy crawly in the title, 4. type of house in the tittle, 5. something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title, 6. something you'd find on a calendar in the title
Foodies Read Too: read food books on 5 different levels: 1-3, 4-8, 9-13, 14-18, 19+
Read Your Name challenge - read a book with the title starting with every letter in your name A-L-E-X etc. Sounds interesting but I have an X! in my name hahaha

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012

I've decided to enter a Reading Challenge!

This is called the Eclectic Reader Challenge where over the next year I will read a book from each of the 12 genres and post a review and a little cheer for one down! :) I am an avid reader so I would say it wouldn't be a hard challenge to complete but I do have my favorite genres- I read a lot of YA, fantasy, and romances. I'm not big on horror and suspense genres. For this I'm just going to post reviews and apply books that are completely new to me. I have many books I would love to reread and post for but I think it would be best to have new books. Ok, I might end up changing my mind for this because I have many series I'd love to reread and talk about so you all feel the urge to read them. I have the Hunger Games series for YA, the Inheritance series for fantasy, a series about an ex-cop turned PI- Savannah in sunny California who is tough yet sweet and a bundle of fun! I'll come back to this post and update it with links of my reviews and and the titles of the books I chose for each genre! :) 

Genres

1. Literary Fiction- The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
2. Crime/Mystery Fiction- Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett 
3. Romantic Fiction- The Counterfeit by Tammie Clarke Gibbs
4. Historical Fiction- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
5. Young Adult- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
6. Fantasy- The Zader by Sara Jo Easton
7. Science Fiction
8. Non Fiction
9. Horror
10. Thriller /Suspense- Deadline by James A. Anderson
11. Classic- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. Your favourite genre

If you want to join this awesome challenge where the participants will be entered to win a book up to $15 AUD from the Book Depository, $10 Amazon GC, or $10 US paypal! You can be a blogger or not to enter! You can check out all the details here! I hope you choose to join me on this awesome challenge! :)

Picnik Printables

The other day I was cruising some other blogs and I found a tutorial of how to make printables on the online program Picnik. You can get a premium membership for like $2 a month but I created these with the free membership. Things like this remind me WHY I'm not a graphic design major or something like that. I found the words on random sites and some are inspired by things I've found on Etsy. I dun know. I'm rather proud of them. I took a vegetarian quote from BrainyQuote for the first one- I might change the colors on it though. :/ here is the link to the tutorial I looked at and if you like printables then I suggest you look here for 101 free pretty printables! :)
 

So what do you think of my pictures I made? I wouldn't say they are very amazing but leave me a comment and tell me what you think! :)