Bout of Books 11.0 Day 1 Wrap Up

The first day of Bout of Books 11.0 is finished. I didn't get much physical reading done because it was decided by my parents that today was spring cleaning day. But, I listened to audiobooks.

So, let's get onto the wrap up.

• "Vampire Kisses book 4: Dance With a Vampire" by Ellen Schreiber     
• I read 4 pages of this before the cleaning started, but that was it.

• "The Chronicles of Nick book 1: Infinity" by Sherrilyn Kenyon   
• I listened to approximately 3 hours of this book while I cleaned. That finished the book for me. And it was absolutely amazing. Confusing, but amazing.

• "Revived" by Cat Patrick       
• I listened to this for 30 minutes after I finished "Infinity". It is pretty interesting so far.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a more productive day, physical reading wise.

                              Thanks for being part of the internet with me,

~Kyla Marie Rich   : )

Bout of Books 11.0 TBR

I am doing the Bout of Books 11.0!
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Here is my TBR for the event.

• Physical books:
• "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins 

• "Extras" by Scott Westerfeld   

• "Cirque du Freak book 4: Vampire Mountain"      

• "Vampire Kisses book 4: Dance With a Vampire"    

• "A Series of Unfortunate Events book the Fifth: The Austere Academy"

• "Unhinged" by A. G. Howard      

• EBooks:
• "The Moth in the Mirror" by A. G. Howard     

• "The Time Crusaders book 1: Timestop"      http://figment.com/books/421620-The-Time-Crusaders-Timestop

• Audiobooks

• "Chronicles of Nick book 1: Infinity" by Sherrilyn Kenyon    

• "Revived" by Cat Patrick     

• "Destined for an Early Grave" by Jeaniene Frost    

• "Dear Killer" by Katherine Ewell     

I hope to finish at least 1 EBook, 3 physical books, and 3 audiobooks. Hopefully it works out!

       Thanks for being part of the internet with me,

~Kyla Marie Rich   : )

Review for "Vampire Kisses" by Ellen Schreiber, audiobook read by Devon Sorvari

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       In her small town that she has dubbed "Dullsville," sixteen-year-old Raven -- a stereotypical vampire-crazed goth-girl -- is an outcast. But not for long...

       A strange family moves in to an old mansion on Benson Hill. But, a lot of questions and rumors surround them. Are they vampires? Well, Raven is dying to uncover the truth.

         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       Alright, let me just start out by saying that there is nothing spectacular about this book. Well, there's nothing spectacularly good about this book.

       I had been wanting to read this book for a few years. In all reality, I probably would have enjoyed this book back when I first head about it when I was thirteen. Now, at seventeen, I have read more books of a higher writing caliber than I had at thirteen. So, I didn't like this book too much.

       This book has a lot of issues.

              The characters are flat stereotypes.
                                   The main character, Raven, is so middle school goth that she's actually a perky goth. She rubs her gothness in the readers' faces. She always talks about her black clothes with lace and rips and safety pins. She emphasizes her black lipstick and eyeliner. She constantly name drops things like "Olivia Outcast" and "Mickey Malice". She's always whining about how nobody understands her. Raven's character is written like she is 13 or 14, but she is actually 16. Now, I may be a teenaged girl myself, but I don't hang out with teenagers, so I'm no expert on them, but I'm fairly certain that 16-year-old girls do not at as Raven is portrayed. But, as I said, I don't actually know, so tell me if I am wrong.
                                   Alexander Sterling is less flaunting in his goth ways than Raven, but it is still quite a stereotype that a "vampire" would be a goth. Also, it seems as if Alexander's main purpose is to love Raven. What else does he do? Apparently, nothing.
                                   Raven's best friend, Becky, is the only person in their school besides Raven who isn't super preppy. She's a farm girl. She's always stuck with Raven. But she's afraid of her own shadow.
                                   The rest of the "Dullsvillians" are all preppy people who wear khakis and sweater vests and play tennis. They are all relatively wealthy and stuck up. My response to this: Really? All of them? Surely every person in one town can not be photo copies of the next.

       This book is absolutely cringe-worthy. It is childish and stereotypical. I'm just glad I chose to listen to the audiobook of this rather than actually reading it. The audiobook at least allowed me to do other things while I listened.

       So, yes, this book is not very good. But, I actually sort of liked it. Lately, I have been listening to and reading very emotionally heavy books. This book provides something lighter for me to enjoy when the subject matter of other books gets to be too much. This book is light and easy. And, the cringe-worthy factor of this book has been more of a comedic source for me than a point of contention. This is a book I can laugh at and have a good time with. That's why I gave it three stars; based on the book itself, it only deserved one or two stars, but the enjoyment it has given me merited it another star.

       This book is not for everyone. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone unless they were looking for something light and silly. But, I had a good time with it.


                        Thanks for being part of the internet with me,

~Kyla Marie Rich       : )