Review The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Title: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
Author: Leanna Renee Hieber
Copyright: 2009
Type: paranormal romance
Pages: 324
Series: yes and this was book 1

Reason for Reading: 
It has been sitting on my TBR pile FOR...EV...ER

Summary:
What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent -- and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death...

Thoughts: 
I'm not even sure where to begin on this one other then it wasn't my favorite and I am trying to not be harsh. I think I went into this thinking it was going to be something other then it was and it turned into something completely different then I anticipated and so that threw my world off a little and I just haven't recovered from it. I still to this day can't remember Percy and that isn't a good thing. I still don't know why she is important. The Goddess part threw in a wrench in the story and I didn't know why or how that was important and why no one believed Rychman when he said the "trap" girl wasn't the right fit when he after all would know who he should be in love with so that was weird to me and I didn't get why he was so anti hanging out with everyone because he wanted to fall in love but when he did GAWD forbid it could be Percy b/c he was waiting on a goddess. I hate hate hate hate hate the BIG MISUNDERSTANDINGS that happen in every frigging romance book but when they drag on until one character nearly dies it drives me batty especially when it has to do with magic JUST EXPLAIN IT especially when more then one person in the group feels uneasy too. UGH
So maybe that was my hangup. Anyway I guess that was it for me. I just don't do well with things like that I understand that a group might not get along but communication goes a long way and I feel like a group like this that hunts together this often and relies on each other with one of them seeing the future could have and should have communicated better about a lot of things so it didn't make sense that their bond was that much off without explaining to me why they didn't trust each other since they had been together since kids. 

Grade: 2 out of 5 stars

Would I recommend: Not really my thing but if I heard someone talking about wanting something a little different sure I would bring it up. Would be a hard sale though

Review: Insanity by Cameron Jace

Title: Insanity

Author: Cameron Jace
Copyright: 2013
Type: young adult
Page: 254
Series yes this is book 1


Reason for Reading:
loved his short stories and thought I would give the full book a try

Summary:
After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder is now a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll's paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland's real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science. 

Thoughts: 
This book confused me because the world that Cameron Jace set up in the short stories were fantastic and I was so excited to read this novel. I absolutely loved them and then I got this one which was going to focus on Alice and I thought okay no problem he would still tie in all those novels somehow or at least the world would make sense or he would flesh out the world somehow... and then it all fell flat. Nothing made sense it was all jumbled. I couldn't tell if Alice was real or not real was she insane or not insane and who was fighting who were we in the real world or not and why did I the reader have to be confused all the time as confused as the reader. I didn't connect or care for any of the characters and I really found that it took so long to finish the actual book I was mad with the ending because I received no answers to anything. I was right back to where I began Alice is still just as confused is this real or not the stupid questions are there and I have no reason to continue because frankly I just don't care enough to invest. I don't get what was happening and I still don't understand how any of this tied into any of the short novels and why did we get those if this was the actual novel? 

Grade: 1 1/2 stars but since you have to give 1 or 2 stars on good reads I gave 2 stars

Would I recommend: No

2016 challenges and how I did

New to Met Author Challenge in 2016

1. Dr. Who: Pest Control by Peter Anghelides

2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

3. The Never List by Koethi Zan

4. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

5. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

6. Weep No More, My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark

7. Evelyn, After by Victoria Helen Stone

8. Dead To Me by Anton Strout

9. The Mermaid's Sister by Carrie Anne Noble

10. The One Thing by Gary Keller

11. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Audiobook Challenge for 2016

The Alphabet Soup Challenge 2016

A. (The) Abandoned by Amanda Stevens

B.
C.
D. Dr. Who: Pest Control by Peter Anghelides
E. Evelyn After by Victoria Helen Stone
F. From Shakespeare with Love: The Best of the Sonnets by William Shakespeare
G. (The) Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King
H. (The) Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I. Insanity by Cameron Jace
J.
K. (The) Kingdom by Amanda Stevens
L. (The) Last Lecture
M. (The) Mermaids Sister by Carrie Anne Noble

N. (The) Never List by Koethi Zan
O. (The) One Thing by Gary Keller
P. (The) Prophet by Amanda Stevens
Q.
R. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
S. (The) Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
T.
U.

V. (The) Visitor by Amanda Stevens
W. Weep No More, My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark

X.
Y.
Z.

Rock my TBR 2016

1. Dead To Me by Anton Strout

2. Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News by Philip Yancey

3. Insanity by Cameron Jace

4. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Finishing the series 2016

1. Harry Dresden Series by Jim Butcher
2. The Grey Wolves Series by Quinn Loftis
3. The Graveyard Queen Series by Amanda Stevens

4. Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh

2016 Challenges

Finishing the Series

If you'd like to join, sign up at Bea's Book Nook.

The details:

All books that are part of a continuing series qualify (i.e. Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, James Patterson's Alex Cross, etc.)

It doesn't matter if you have 1 book or 10 books in a series to complete it, it qualifies (i.e. if you only need to read one more Mercy Thompson book to complete the goal, that's fine) The goal is to complete a series from wherever you are up to until the last published book.

The qualification period is January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016. Books must be read during this time frame to count. Sign up is now until December 1, 2016.

Take the button above and post about it on your blog. Use the link below to sign up and make sure you link it directly to your post about this challenge, not to the home page of your blog.

If you don't have a blog, that's fine. Just leave a comment to sign up and tell us which series you are reading. Or you can join the Goodreads group for this challenge by clicking here.

Each month there will be a post where you can link up your reviews. Write a review - 2 sentences or an essay, whatever works for you, but there is a minimum of 2 sentences. Not sure what to write? How about something like, "The characters were a delight but the story was slow and confusing. It was disappointing."

Any format and length of book counts - print, audio, ebook, etc.

You should choose the series you want to finish before the challenge begins, but it isn't necessary. It's fine to change series during the year - as long as you complete whichever series it is.

Choose a level below.

Level 1 (Novice series reader) - Complete 1 series.
Level 2 (Testing the waters) - Complete 2 -4 series.
Level 3 (Experienced) - Complete 3 - 6 series.
Level 4 (Expert series reader) - Complete 7 or more series.

I'm going to go with Level 2. I'll list my progress here and these are the series I want to complete...

These are three series I want to complete. Hopefully I can complete at least 2 of them...
1. Harry Dresden Series by Jim Butcher
2. The Grey Wolves Series by Quinn Loftis
3. Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews
4. Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh

This is my first reading challenge to sign up for 2016.  I love seeing how many books I can read in a year that begins with a different letter of the alphabet.  I've done this for a few years, but never complete it.  Yet, I do love it and join all the time.  So, here I am again :)

This challenge is once again hosted by Lori and Escape With Dollycas.

Here are the details...

This challenge will run from January 1st, 2016 until December 31st, 2016.

You can join anytime. You do not have to review the book. Books can come from any genre.

You do not need to link up each spoonful.

Make a page or a post or a GoodReads shelf where you will keep track of your spoonfuls. I keep track of mine on my Challenge Page.

Crossovers to other challenges are allowed and encouraged!

It’s an alphabet challenge!!! The challenge is to read one book that has a title starting with every letter of the alphabet.

You can drop the A’s and The’s from the book titles as shown below.

The First Main Word Needs To Be
The Letter You Are Counting 

Except For those pesky Q, X AND Z titles the word that starts with the challenge letter can be anywhere in the title.

So there are two different ways you can set up your own A-Z Reading Challenge.

A – How I plan to do it: Make a list on your blog from A-Z. Throughout the year, as you go along, add the books you are reading to the list. Towards the end of the year, you can check and see which letters you are missing and find books to fit.

OR

B – Make a list now of 26 books, picking one for each letter of the alphabet. For example: A – The Art of Murder by Elaine Viets B- Breach of Crust by Ellery Adams C – Copy Cap Murder by Jenn McKinlay D – Devonshire Scream by Laura Childs etc.

Books can be read in any order and all formats – print – e-book – audio – are acceptable for this challenge!

I plan to sign up for option A - I will keep my list of books here and will list them as I go along...

Welcome back to the New Authors reading challenge! I’m hoping everyone is still enjoying this reading challenge as we head into our eighth year.

For those new to the New Authors Challenge, the whole idea started when I first started reviewing and I didn’t know that many authors in my favored genre. So I went looking. I gave myself a goal of finding 50 new authors and ended up reading 56 that first year. I loved finding these new characters, worlds and cultures, so I want to help others find new ones as well. Since 2006, I’ve tried over 150 different authors I may not have tried otherwise and I have found some really great authors.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before, not necessarily ones that are debuting. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014, and 2015 Challenge pages. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

Here are the guidelines:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from short stories/novellas or anthologies.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you tell me how many new authors you want to discover. If it’s 1 or 100, go for it. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.
4. After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to the form.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Once you reach your goal, you don’t have to stop. Any new author you try, go ahead and head back here and add it to the list. Introduce us all to whoever you find. Afterall, there’s no reason to stop trying new authors, right?

Twitter: If you tweet your review, make sure to include the hashtag #NewAuthor2016!

Grab the Button! 300×300 and 600×600

JOIN THE  #ROCKMYTBR CHALLENGE FOR 2016! 

(Grab the above banner to include in your blog post and link back to this post)

We ALL have those poor little books that we bought because we had been excited to read them…but eventually they just went by the wayside and forgotten.

2016 IS A NEW YEAR SO WE ARE GONNA ROCK OUR TBRS!

I have so many books sitting on my shelf and on my tablet that I’ve been REALLY wanting to read! So, I decided to start personal challenge to myself and I wanted anyone else who’s interested in joining to join!

OPEN TO ALL READERS! Whether you’re a reader, a blogger, a booktuber, a bookstagramer let’s all have fun and rock out those TBRs together! We all love books and let’s encourage one another.

THE CHALLENGE:

• To read a minimum of 1 book per month you already own (published book). This challenge is totally what YOU make of it! You can do 5 books a month, 10, WHATEVER! Anything you accomplish is fantastic. This challenge is really what you make of it.

BUDDY READS:

• Make a list! If you can, create a list of books you own and want to read then post it, tweet it, video it and try to find other who want to read the same book. Buddy reading is so much fun! It’s great having other people to fangirl/fanboy with while you’re currently reading. This is optional but I think it’d be fun!

THE HASHTAG:

• Use the hastag #RockMyTBR for current discussion.
  There will be Twitter Chats periodically hosted. (More info to come)
• Knowing myself, there will most likely be giveaways throughout the year as well!

MONTHLY WRAP UP:

• At the end of the month, update us on how you’re doing with the challenge. This can be done on Twitter, on your blog, a Booktube video, YOU NAME IT!

We love audiobooks here at Bibliosanctum for a variety of reasons from distraction while doing chores to just enjoying a good story being read by an awesome narrator. We also love to undertake a good challenge, especially when it coincides with our love of reading. This will be Bibliosanctum’s second year participating in the event, and we’re excited to see where this year’s challenge takes us!

The Book Nympho and Hot Listens host this challenge ever year, and this will be their fourth year organizing the event. Make sure to check out their sign-up page for this year’s challenge, and be sure to check out their Goodreads group.

Reading Challenge Details:

• Runs January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016. You can join at any time.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2016 than you did in 2015.
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
• ANY genres count.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Shelfari, Booklikes, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
• If you’re a blogger grab the button (on the sidebar) and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweeting about the challenge.

Levels:

• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
• Stenographer (can listen while multi-tasking) 10-15
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30-50
• Marathoner (Look Ma no hands) 50+

2016 Challenges

2016 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

2016 Audiobook Challenge

2016 Finish The Series Challenge

2016 New Authors Challenge

2016 Rock my TBR challenge