Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic .  Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers.  Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.
The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Childhood Book Series

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic.  Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers.  Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.
The topic this Wednesday is ... Actor/Actress for Current Read
Why I love… Dakota Fanning

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic .  Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers.  Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.
The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Large (Chunky) Reads aka Chunksters!

I don't tend to pick up really large books. For some reason, they seem to be somewhat daunting to read. Once in a while I will, but not many of them have stayed with me the way this book has.  My pick is The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipia Gregory. Yep, this book is a chunker! Coming in at 672 pages.  I really loved this book. I read this back in 2007, and gave it 5/5.  That high rating still stands. What's funny is that I didn't even know at the time that this was the 2nd book in the series (even though it was published first). I couldn't even tell there was a book before it, so this book can totally stand on it's own.

Don't get it twisted, the movie wasn't that great...BUT, this book is! If you saw the movie and didn't like it, don't disregard the book. You know how it goes. The movies are rarely better or even close to the book. 

This was the book that inspired not only the motion picture movie, but HBO's series The Tutors, which is a pretty decent show.  Everyone really got into the life of Henry VIII and his wives after this book caught everyone's attention.

Throw out what you've seen on the big and little screens and give this book a try.

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic .  Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers.  Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.

The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Book Recommended by Another
I have two that are favorites. These are in no particular order. They are both sort of old school, but I really enjoyed them. 

The first one is French Silk, by Sandra Brown. My cousin recommended this book, and it jump started me on a year long binge of Sandra Brown. I really enjoyed her books. Then the newer books started to transform and they weren't really romance anymore, but instead suspense/mystery.  Regardless. I'm so glad I got read to most of her books. They are all pretty good!

My second pick is the Left Behind Series, by Tim LaHay and Jerry B Jenkins.  These books were not only recommended, but I was gifted the full set by a coworker that I became good friends with.  I never really read Christian fiction before, so I was skeptical, but these books are really good! You may be surprised, like I was.

Great series, but the content can get pretty heavy after reading 13 books in a row. I didn’t complete the series, but I got through book 13 out of 16 before I needed a break.  I will return to it and finish it eventually.  

The series begins with Left Behind, when the Rapture occurs, everyone who didn’t follow Christ was left behind, here on earth.  It does refer to the bible and other christian values, but in an entertaining way. It doesn't have that "churchy" feel at all.  The books are adventurous and unbelievable (in a good way).  

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic.  Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers.  Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.

The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Summer Read

I really enjoy light easy reads for the summer. It's the best when you can enjoy a book and not have to dissect it to death... especially during the summer, when things are meant to be laid back and enjoyable! :-)

My favorite books this summer were the latest installments of two different series. These are both paranormal romance series.  They are face paced, action packed, romance packed, lusty and perfect for summer ready! 

If you haven't yet, you must check out J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, and  Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed Series. I adore them both. They are both about a group of vampire protecting the world, but the similarities pretty much end there.  They guys in these books are very different. J.R. Ward's brothers are more rough and tough and seem to have an hard edge to them plus some pretty scary villains.  Lara Adrian's breed males are also tough and have equally tough villains to fight, yet the series seems a little more mainstream. What I mean by that is the series is a little softer, for lack of a better word.

What's your favorite summer reading?

Happy Reading, 
~Tamara~

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic . Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers. Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.

The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Bookish Worlds

I mulled over this a bit because there are several very good options to pick from. I decided to go with Partholon from the Divine series by P.C. Cast. I read the first 3 of 4 books and I really enjoyed them. The fourth book is a prequel, but I haven't gotten to it yet. This Divine series may less known than the blockbuster series we all know and love (you know the ones!), but don't sleep on these books, they make an impression.

The mythical world of Partholon is full of magic and old worldliness. Partholon is a parallel universe and it felt like you were thrown back in time with tons of fantastical things, like centaurs, goddesses, and magic portals mixed in with castles, big gold jewelry and lavish outfits, wine for every meal and hot male servants and other fun medieval-ish stuff. The entire series didn't take place in Partholon, some of it took place in our "real" world during present day. Which I liked because it allowed for some nice contrast and really made Partholon seem all the more magical.

The books are fun to read and I totally could "see" Partholon thanks to great description and attention to detail. I wouldn't mind taking a short trip to Partholon as a goddess! :-) Then I would happily return to the "real" world, where there is electricity!

Happy Reading,
~Tamara~

Weekly Meme, "Why I Love Wednesdays" is hosted by Alexis of Reflections of a Bookaholic . Each week she posts a Why I Love Topic that she answers. Check out Alexis' blog and join in the fun.

The topic this Wednesday is ... Favorite Websites

OK, here's my list bookish websites! 

Goodreads - I've been placing my reviews on this website for a few years now. I love it. I like seeing everything that I've read in order and sortable by genre, year, author, etc. I also like using the html montages as you can see on my website. :-) It's also a great resource to read book reviews and interact with other book lovers.

BookLamp - I love this site because you can enter a book title and it gives you like titles. So if you love a specific book and you want to find more books in the same category, this is the place to look. On their website, they compare themselves to Pandora, and I'd say that's pretty accurate.

Shelf Awareness - Shelf Awareness is a free e-newsletter about books and the book industry. I LOVE their newsletters. So informative!

Lit Lovers - I've found some really good reading discussion questions and reading guides here. Great for when you need some help for book club meetings!

Edelweiss - An awesome on-line publisher catalog service. This page rocks, it has many uses. From finding new releases to new galleys. You can search by catalogs, date, publisher, subject, etc. It's pretty dynamic.

Paperback Swap - If you love your paperbacks or hardcover books but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars this is a good alternative. Mostly all the books are in pretty good condition which is wonderful, I think the participants have a pretty high standard of how to keep their books. A girl in one of my book clubs uses this regularly and she said she'd never gotten a bad book. Also, this is a great option if you're trying out a new author. If you're not into swapping books, you can always borrow from your local library!

I hope that I was able to introduce you to some new helpful bookish resources!

Happy Reading,
~Tamara~