The Kari AnnAlysis

Through the past almost two years of blogging, I can’t believe the world that has opened up to me. I started out with a small blog on my Myspace page that was sparked by my love for Jane Eyre.  I decided I wanted more, tried Blogger and WordPress and ended up with my own domain, which I love! I feel so powerful

Through all of my research to find out what people wrote about, what I liked to read and what blogs I liked, I have found so much. I wanted to share some of my favorite booking websites with you guys, so you can get your feet wet, if you already don’t stop by them.

1. Goodreads.com: I have been on Goodreads for a while now. It was one of the first bookish websites, other than blogs, that I found. I copy all of my reviews to Goodreads and compulsively check the giveaway pages. After months, I am still absolutely in love with this site. On a daily basis, I log in to see what new books have been posted. Now the enter vs. win rate isn’t very high. I have won three books from Goodreads, but it still keeps me coming back. I also love that on the site, there is a trivia. You can do general trivia, or only questions for the books you have read. As my library grows, so does my trivia number. I opt to only do trivia for books I have read, so I tend to run out from time to time. I try to add a few questions, although recently I keep forgetting, just to keep the trivia pool filled.

2. Librarything.com: Librarything is known for its book giveaways. They have two ways to sign up for books. The first is through the Early Reviewers Giveaway which is open for a month. There is also a Member Giveaway. I tend to find more books through the Early Reviewers Giveaway. These are primarily new books that are getting ready to be published. The Member Giveaway has nearly any book anyone wants to give away. Now, my ratio here isn’t wonderful either, but better than on Goodreads. I have won 5 books from these programs.

The next two websites are sites that I have just come across the past couple of months and I love, love, love them!

3. BookMooch.com: I had always heard about this website and about Paperback Swap. I never wanted to get rid of books, so I never went to them. That all changed a couple of months ago when I realized I had two book shelves filled with books and no where else to put them. And that’s just in my bedroom. So, I went through my books, kept the ones I loved, and posted the ones I was so-so about. I can not believe how fast some of them have gone. If you’ve never been on the site, you post a book that you are willing to send someone and you get a point. For every point you get, you can Mooch (request) a book from anyone else on the website willing to send to you. The only price you pay is shipping for the people who request from you. So I may not really be clearing out my shelves, because I am replenishing them with other books, but it’s giving me a chance to try new ones and try ones that I am not 100% sure about because I know I can post it and get a new one in return. I have received 7 books from this program and am waiting on 4 others!

4. NetGalley.com : If I had to choose right now, I would say that this is probably my favorite booking website. NetGalley has a list of hundreds of books that you can read for free and review. The one fallback for some people will be that all of these books are read online. There is a program you can download to your computer and read right from there. I don’t mind doing this, because I know it is saving me shelf space. The awesome thing about this site is if you have a Kindle or a Nook, you can have the books sent there. I am getting a Nook in the next month (yay for birthday presents), so I am looking forward to being able to read on there instead of toting my laptop with me everywhere. Now my laptop is just a little Netbook, so it’s not a huge hassle, but it’s still something else I have to bring with me on a daily basis when I am reading a book from there. So far, I have read and reviewed 7 books on NetGalley and I have 14 still to go. And out of the books I have to read, one was published last month, the rest are anywhere from the end of August until mid-November so I have plenty of time to get through them. If you don’t mind reading on your computer, or have some form of e-reader, I HIGHLY suggest this site.

5. Crazy Book Tours : I never really thought I would take part in Book Tours. They just seemed like a lot of work… well, it seemed stressful to have to read a book within a given time period, review it and make sure you get it mailed out. I am normally extremely organized, but when events that happened within the last week, including an awesome family weekend and a horrible day in bed with a virus come around, you can’t always be on top of things. But I ran into this website, posted from Jen on twitter and found some books that I thought looked really good. I have only read one book for this tour, but have signed up for a few. I just got another one in the mail and my 14 day clock starts. After taking part in one, I think I might expand my horizons. This site hosts adult fiction, non fiction and memoir books. My #6 will be for those of you interested in YA tours.

6. Around the World Tours : This site is held together by Princess Bookie. I have run across it a number of times, but never signed up. As stated before, a timeline of when things have to be done scared the crap out of me. Now that I know I can take part in this and get some awesome new books, I am going to sign up for more. I have not signed up for many on Around the World Tours, but as soon as this post is saved, that’s my next goal. One of my goals for the year was to read 25 books from the YA genre. I finished that last month, but I still want to stick with that genre, while I’m still in my early 20′s and allowed

I hope that you guys will check out and enjoy some of these websites! Are there any that you like that I missed? If so, please leave them in the comments section and I’ll definitely check them out. I’m always up for new bookish websites and fun!

Books Read:
Poseur: Petty in Pink
One Amazing Thing
Definitely Dead
The Time Traveler’s Wife
LA Candy
To read the reviews for these books, click here.

Pages Read:
1653

Bookmarks Given:
1. 0 Bookmarks
2. 0 Bookmarks
3. 1 Bookmark
4. 4 Bookmarks
5. 0 Bookmarks

Favorite Book:  I would probably go with The Time Traveler’s Wife. I really enjoyed LA Candy, but The Time Traveler’s Wife was written very well. I am still wondering how she came up with such an awesome plot.
Least Favorite Book: This month this is tough, I really liked all the books I read, but if it goes by bookmarks, Petty in Pink only got 3. Every other book got 4.

Goals for March: FINALLY begin the Private series and finish up the books I have about Sookie Stackhouse. I am reading one and have one left on my shelf. Also, I am looking forward to adding some books to my YA Challenge. My goal for the year is 25. I have read 2

Looking forward to in March: Hopefully nicer weather so I can sit outside and read

Release: October 1, 2007

You guessed it, this is part of my Christmas Reading Challenge. This is my 4th book in the challenge. I am having so much fun with this. While the books haven’t been as great as I’d hoped, I am still glad I’m taking part.

In Secret Santa, we delve into the lives of a group of high schoolers. And, as you can tell by the title, the whole school takes part in Secret Santa. They all draw names from a hat and while some are happy with their choices, others make sure theirs are pre-chosen.

Noelle is our main character. She is a sophomore and has a HUGE crush on her neighbor Charlie. He’s a senior and one of the most popular players in the school. Although Noelle picks Charlie’s brother’s name out of the hat, she still buys gifts for Charlie. Ryan (Charlie’s brother), on the other hand is doing some great things for the person he picked, they are just a little confused about who is buying for whom.

Lily is Noelle’s best friend. Over the summer, she suffered a really bad breakup but is working really hard to make her Secret Santa happy. Lily is buying presents for Connor, who is the boyfriend of the second most popular girl in school, Shawna. But Lily keeps getting her wires crossed and buying presents that Connor is not a fan of.

Instead, Lily’s presents are more suited for Simon. He is the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school, Amber. But Amber isn’t sure if she still wants to date Simon, so she pre-chooses someone who is uber hot in hopes of getting a date.

And finally, we have Celia. Celia moved from California and somehow got stuck being friends with Amber and Shawna. She doesn’t really “like” them per say. She does as she is told, dresses as she is told and likes as she is told. Until now. She drew Jake’s name out of the hat and is bound and determined to get a date. But one of Jake’s co-workers, who is sadly named Froggy, gets gifts for Celia. He feels the way for her that she feels for Jake.

Ok, as confusing as that is - it is much easier than the confusion in the book. The Secret Santa swap sounded like a good idea when I first got the book, but the more I read into it, the more I realized it wasn’t that great of an idea. People were getting mad about their boyfriends and girlfriends getting gifts from others, some were trying really hard to get the perfect gifts and others just left theirs out completely.

Every couple of pages the main character changed. Right as soon as you’d get into the presents that Noelle was getting, you’d be thrusted into the crappy presents that Connor was getting. You’d be pulled out as soon as your got sucked in.

I thought this book had promise and you always knew who you were reading about, but there were so many characters, it was very easy to get confused. And while it ended happily for most, there was just so much drama and confusion throughout, it didn’t end happily with me.

I give Secret Santa two bookmarks.

Christmas Reading Challenge:
1. Ex-Mas
2. Snowed In
3. The Christmas Sweater

I got The Christmas Sweater last year for Christmas, but of course, the season was done by then, so I had to wait until this holiday season to start! Also, this is part of my Christmas Reading Challenge.

The Christmas Sweatertakes us to Eddie’s Christmas when he was 12. All he wanted was a red Huffy with a black banana seat. But, that’s not quite what he got. Instead, he was given a hand-knitted sweater from his mom. Although she spent many hours putting it together, he hated it. And he hated her for it. That evening, he is still mad and when his mom wants to stay at his grandparents house, he decides they should leave. What he doesn’t realize is this will be his last trip with his mother. After this trip, his life completely changes. He moves in with his grandparents, meets a new best friend who is uber rich and also meets Russell, the man who Eddie keeps bumping into at his neighbor’s house. Through Eddie’s bad attitude and lack of faith, he eventually learns what is really important in life.

This book is loosely based on Glenn Beck’s childhood. I always have a hard time with these books that are somewhat based on fact. Throughout the entire book, I am very curious which parts are real and which parts are made up. At the end of the book, Beck explains the real parts and how the other parts came along, but I hate waiting that long

I enjoyed this book. It’s the second one I’ve read lately that deals with a child searching for faith. I have always been religious, but have expressed it in different ways throughout my life. I haven’t always gone to church and my faith has fluctuated, but now I am attending a local church with my mom, mother-in-law and husband and am very happy with it. The more I attend church, the more these books appeal to me.

I think the thing I liked most about this book was the ending. It was definitely not what I expected, it exceeded everything I believed it would be.

Other than the fact/fiction part of this book, I have a hard time reading books about boys. LOL I know that may sound crazy, but it’s just really hard for me to relate to the life of a 12-year-old boy. I went through the 12-year-old phase with my brother and he’s been cranky since then, but when I was 15, I didn’t really care about his attitude, I had older boys to worry about. Yes, a girl could have gone through this, but I think it would be different. And I got a little angry at Eddie because I just wanted him to give in. It would have shortened the book and made it drastically different, but I wanted to smack him silly!

All-in-all, this book was just ok for me. I enjoyed the writing and the end of the story. I give it 3 bookmarks.

Christmas Reading Challenge
1. Ex-Mas
2. Snowed In

Release: November 27, 2007

As much as I loved Ex-Mas, it set the bar REALLY high for the other holiday books I have on my shelf.

Ashleigh Snow is embarking on a new journey with her mom. They’re running away from the life they used to know. Ashleigh’s dad is getting remarried so they decide to start fresh. They move to the Great Lakes and buy a B&B. Ashleigh doesn’t realize until they get there how different it is. There are only 5 or 6 kids in each grade at her new school, in Texas there were over a thousand. It snows so much, for a couple of months, they have to close down the road to the mainland. One thing this town is not missing out on is the hotties. Within the first day, Ashleigh meets two. One she up a date with, the other makes her her pitter-patter. But, he’s not exactly available. Ashleigh tries to deal with this crush while making friends, fitting in and staying warm. In the end though, will she choose a new girlfriend instead of the hottie or risk her reputation for a couple dates? Because really, she never goes on more than 3.

When I started this book, I was in love! I could picture the town and I immediately wanted to move there. It sounded so quaint and beautiful and SNOWY! I mean when you don’t have to drive anywhere, who doesn’t love snow? By the way, there are no vehicles allowed on the island. How cool is that?

Well, after a great, promising start, the book didn’t really deliver. It was cute and VERY tweeny, but I have a hard time liking a book that says it’s ok to cheat. Yes, in Ex-Mas, cheating was also a topic, but that cheater was giving a bad name and a black eye. In this book, they said “Oh no, we’re bad” , but it still seemed like it wasn’t a big deal. I just don’t think that’s a great thing to ok when you’re gearing this book at teens who most likely will go through crushes on friend’s boyfriends.

I thought this book had great potential, and there’s really nothing I could think of to spice it up, it just didn’t do it for me. I will be dreaming of this town for the rest of my life though. But, I can only give it two bookmarks.

This is part of my Christmas Reading Challenge.
1. Ex-Mas