December Paranormal Reading Challenge: Other

Yikes! I can't believe it's already December 12!  definitely apologize for being so late posting this! My life has been a bit crazy the past couple weeks and blogging has fallen behind.

Anyway, this month is our Others month, so any paranormal creature that doesn't fit in any of the other categories. Examples are: Gods/goddesses, centaurs, etc. Whatever you can think of! Remember to link up below.

This month we have a prize kindly donated by author Kaitlin Bevis. She has donated an ebook of her novel Persephone, a YA read featuring gods and goddess. Thank you so much Kaitlin!

Also, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the challenge. It was both Jessi and I's first time running a reading challenge and I can definitely admit that there were a few mistakes made. I'm hoping to run the challenge again next year with a few improvements! I'd really like to hear everyone thoughts and whether or not you'd be interesting in participating next year. Thanks!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Werewolves/Shifts Month

I apologize for posting this a bit late, but here it is! Shifters month. Or werewolves. You pick!

So far I haven't fallen in love with any werewolf books. I did enjoy Skulk by Rosie Best, so that's going to be my recommendation for shifters. Because who wouldn't want to be able to shift into a fox to run around London thwarting evil!

This month I'm planning to read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I've read The Raven Cycle books and really enjoyed them, so I'm excited to try another Maggie series. Apparently at the end I will be posting an ugly-cry photo on twitter at some point in the series as per Maggie's personal instructions (seriously, she told me to and therefore it will happen).

I can't wait to see what book you guys will be reading. Link up here!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Ghosts

With Halloween coming up quick (has everyone decided on a costume?), the October theme of the Paranormal Reading Challenge is Ghosts! Yay! Honestly, I don't read a lot of ghost stories because they scare me. Ghosts are one of the paranormal elements that I haven't decided if they are real or not. So they can scare me the most by far because they might be real.

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This month, I'll be reading one of those books that everyone in the entire blogosphere has read, but I haven't: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I hope it lives up to all the hype!

Be sure to link up your October paranormal reviews here!

PRC: Dragons

The summertime fun of lounging on the beach with our mermaid reads may be over, but heading in the direction of fall means we're also heading in the direction of dragons!

Most books I've read with dragons have been of the traditional, fearsome kind (think Harry Potter), although one of my favourite series of my childhood centered around a number of still-fearsome talking dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. My most recent interactions with dragons have come from watching Game of Thrones and playing Skyrim.

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This month my dragon read will be Returner's Wealth by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell.

Be sure to remember to link up your September paranormal reads here!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Mermaids

I think I probably said this for aliens month, but mermaids month is the one I'm most scared for! But reading challenges are about just that, challenging yourself! What kind of challenge would it be if it was "Read What You Always Read Challenge"?

But seriously, mermaids! I've never read a mermaid book in my life. My mermaid experience in life accounts to this:

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This month, I'll be reading Florence by Ciye Cho. I'm not sure what to expect, but fingers crossed it will be a good one!

 

I can't wait to see what you guys read this month! Be sure to link up your reviews below. This month's prize is an ecopy of Florence!

Paranormal Reading Challenge Update

As some of you know, I'm a co-host of the Paranormal Reading Challenge, along with Jessi from Auntie Spinelli Reads. Unfortunately, real life has gotten in the way of running the challenge the way I envisioned it when I thought it up. So this post is a reminder of the awesomeness of the Paranormal Reading Challenge and an announcement of the winners from the past 5 months (yep, I was that far behind).

Also, if you are an author who would be interested in donating a prize to the Paranormal Reading Challenge, please let me know!

On to the winners:

February - Ashley from Quiet Concert - wins a copy of Angelfall!

March - Sadaf from Weakling No.14 - wins 2 bookmarks (1 signed!)

April - Lori from Writing My Own Fairy Tale - wins 2 bookmarks (1 signed!)

May - Daphne from Reading Until Dawn - wins 2 bookmarks (1 signed!)

June - Miki from Lecture toute une Aventure- wins 2 bookmarks (1 signed!)

Congrats to all the winners. I will be in touch shortly!

Remember to link up your reviews to be entered to win!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Witches and Wizards

Wow, I can't believe it's July already! This summer is just flying by. We're half-way there guys! Holy smokes! I just finished my zombie read today, so watch for that coming up on Friday.

On to July's paranormal creature: witches and wizards. This one is probably my favourite. Who hasn't wished that they could cast a spell now and again!

Of course, the first books that come to mind when I think of witches and wizards is the amazing Harry Potter series. I think for many of us, HP made us fall in love with reading or at least cemented that love. I read the early books over and over again and hopefully I'll have time to do a re-read later this year. Maybe coincide Goblet of Fire with dragon month in September?

I also love fantasy stories about sorcerers and wizards. One of my favourites is The Belgariad by David Eddings. Another one I'm about due for a re-read on!

This month I'll be reading Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood, book 1 in the Cahill Witch Chronicles.

Please leave your links below and I'd love to hear what you're planning to read this month!


PS: I'm so sorry I'm behind with the previous winners. I promise I'll get in sorted out this month!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Zombies

It's time for my most anticipated month of the paranormal reading challenge: zombies!! I'm a huge fan of the zombie genre and can't wait to get started on a zombie read.

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One of my all-time favourite zombie reads was World War Z by Max Brooks. I can't say I'm excited for the upcoming film though...

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Be sure to link up your zombie reads below!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Aliens

To be honest, I haven't really many (any?) paranormal books. So this will be an exciting month for me to try something new!

When I think of aliens, I think of one of my favourite TV shows growing up: 3rd Rock from the Sun. John Lithgow + (a very young) Joseph Gorden-Levitt =  Awesome!

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This month's read is Icons by Margaret Stohl. Hopefully it goes a little better than my demon read!

Be sure to link up your reviews for this month!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Demons

Wow, I can't believe we're already in April! I hope your paranormal reading has been going awesome!

This month we're talking and reading about demons. Demons can be a bit hit or miss, but I love them anyway. I'm a major sucker for the straight up evil demons! None of this I'm-a-demon-but-I-don't-want-to-be-bad stuff here! Just evil through and through! Like this badass demon prince Orcus!

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I also like how weird demons can look. Check out this guy! Who says you need a head to have a mouth?!

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I also love learning about demons from other cultures! Like this one from the Mulkirigala temple in Sri Lanka!

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And of course, a Supernatural demon:

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As far as books with demons, I'm going to recommend The Protector series by M. R. Merrick! Fast-paced YA demon-fighting awesome!

I haven't decided yet what I'm reading this month, so I'm happy for any suggestions!

Here's the linky to add your reviews! The price for this month is currently TBA, but we'll let you know soon what you can possibly win!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Faeries

My first literary adventure into the world of the Fae came complements of Holly Black's Iron Fae series. I read this one back in junior high and absolutely fell in love with the world of the Fae! I love the idea of Fae not being able to tell a lie, but still being super tricky! Plus, the idea of knowing their full name giving you power of them. Awesome!

This month I plan to finally read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. I bought the entire series, but haven't had a chance to read it yet, so I'm pretty excited.

Add your reviews to the linky below for your chance to win!

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Angels/Nephilim

Wow, can you believe the first month of 2013 is already over? That means we're wrapping up Vampires and moving on to Angels and Nephilim. Angels have always been a hit or miss creature for me, but thank goodness I've had some luck and found some favourites. In books, I loved Unearthly by Cynthia Hand and I'm excited to continue the series. Also, I'm a fan of supernatural and I love Castiel. Two great examples of angels I like.

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And don't forget Nephilim. I'm sure for many readers like me, when you think of Nephilim, you think of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters. To be honest, I'm still on the fence a bit. I loved the first three books of The Mortal Instruments, but the 4th book disappointed me, so I stopped reading, preferring to pretend the series stopped after book three (it tied up so neatly!).

As for my plans for this month, I'm keeping my options open. I will read at least one of the following:
Angelfall by Susan Ee
A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

I'd love to hear what you'll be reading this month and be sure to link up your reviews to our linky for a chance to win this month's prize (TBA). Plus you have a couple more days to link your January reviews here before we give away the awesome prizes!

2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge Kick-off

I'm super excited to kick-off the 2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge with everyone's favourite bloodsuckers: Vampires! (If you have no idea what this reading challenge is, please go here to sign up!)

I know a lot of people (probably less bookish than you or I) are divided on the concept of vampires thanks to Twilight. However, there is so much more to vampires than Edward and Bella. Here are some of my favourites:

Tom Cruise as Lestat and Kristen Dunst as Claudia in Interview With the Vampire - I'll admit I haven't read the book (yet), but I loved them in the movie.

I have a list of vampire books I'd like to read this month, let's see how far I get!

The Life and Death of Lily Drake - T. Michelle Nelson
The Vampire's Daughter - Shayne Leighton
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
Fat Vampire - Adam Rex
Team Human - Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

But on to the important stuff: prizes! So awesome authors have agreed to donate some awesome books as prizes. Here's what we've got:

Paperback of The Life and Death of Lily Drake by T. Michelle Nelson (sorry, only open to Canada and the US due to shipping)
eBook of Blood of Anteros by  Georgia Cates

Awesome right? But you can't win if you don't link your reviews. Remember, you can link any review featuring a paranormal creature, but this month you get double entries if the book is about vampires!