"waiting on" wednesday: 03/30/11

{ ++ } This is, I think, a fantastic thing started over at Breaking the Spine, that I recently decided to get involved in.  Basically, this is a chance to go on a little bit about the books we're anxiously awaiting either to read or to be published.  It seems like I'm always finding new things to read, be it a new series, or a stand-alone, and there's a peculiar kind of anticipation that comes from knowing a new book by a favorite author is thisclose to being released.

So, here's a few of mine, and the why's.

                                     

                            expected publication 2011

                                   @amazon.com

                                   @goodreads.com

No summary up yet, but this is the first novel in the spin-off to Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series.   I'm quite excited about this one.  It's currently expected out this year.  I had some mixed emotions on how the final book in the VA series ended, and how some plot lines there were handled, but, this book looks like it has a lot of potential.  So I will definitely be reading it.

                  Hardcover, 320 pages

         Expected publication: April 26th 2011

                         @amazon.com

                        @goodreads.com

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.
Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.  (synopsis from goodreads.com)

I don't know why the summary for this one grabbed me so much, but it did.  I've never even read anything by this author before, but I saw this book online and knew I'd have to check it out.  I love paranormal stuff, and this one seems like it has some potential.  

Okay folks, that's it for this week!  So many of the books I want to read aren't due out for awhile, or are series I am catching up on, etc, so I don't know how many reads I have that are coming out in the immediate future, BUT, I look forward to participating!  

Everyone have a lovely evening!

what's in a name?

{ ++ } I finally stumbled upon what I think it is a rather cute name for this blog.  I wanted something both clever, and that also expressed some aspect of my personality.  Those who know me best know I am a romantic at heart, through and through, and believe entirely in "once upon a time," and am still hoping for my own "happily ever after."  So...this is me, naming my blog.  "Once upon a prologue."  Maybe someone else out there has this name, maybe not.  I'm pretty happy with it, and hope to spend a lot of time here talking about great books.

{ ++ } We start a new week tomorrow... I go back to work, and hopefully back to the gym!  But for now, I think I am going to put on a kettle for hot tea (YAYS!) and settle in to finish the book that's been calling my name all weekend.  : ) 

"book blogger hop": 03/25/11

Hosted by Jennifer @ crazy for books, this is another way for all us awesome bloggers to mix and mingle with one another!  So hi, anyone brave enough to venture over this way!  I look forward to gossiping about many, many books with all of you!

This week's question: if you could physically put yourself into a book or series...which one would it be and why?

Oh gosh.  I have to choose just one?  Several come to mind: the world of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series (mmmm vampires) or Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.  The Harry Potter series, so I could be BFF's with Hermione!  But I guess I'd choose Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series.  Her world has always intrigued me, drawn me in, and fascinated the part of me that sometimes feels like I was born in the wrong time and/or dimension.  haha  And...I want a Warlord Prince of my very own.  : )

"follow me" friday: 03/25/11

Hosted over at parajunkee.com, whose blog looks ahhh-mazing, this is a fun and great way for new bloggers like me to kinda get our feet wet so to speak, venture out into the world of blogging, and hopefully meet new and fabulous people.

This week's question: Give us five book related, silly facts about you.

1) I have been known to literally jump up and down over a new book.
2) The scent of old books is one of my favorite smells in the whole world.
3) I find it nearly impossible to part with my books - no matter how many times I've read it/them.  My books are about to take over my bedroom, and I keep buying them!
4) When I find a new author I love, I will talk and talk about him/her, to basically anyone whom I think will listen.  Sometimes to the point of exasperating people, but I can't help it - I get carried away.
5) I have a mental list of "my favorite male/female/couples EVER" when it comes to books.  This list is open to change.  : )

latest & greatest: the darkest secret

 While exploring a few other blogs today, I stumbled across a great idea, which basically boils down to me squee'ing over books that are due out soon, that I cannot wait to get my hands on.  Some of these are ones I will be able to read right away; others are ones I am a ways off of reading, but that nevertheless, have my heart beating a little faster in anticipation. 

I don't know how often I'll do this, but like I said, I thought the idea was cool, and it might draw some good attention to authors who some of you have never tried before. 


I'm tentatively calling this "feature", "latest and greatest."  The name may change if I think of something cooler, but here we go.  :)

(image from amazon.com)

Goodreads page (to avoid spoilers)

Publication date: March 29, 2011

Gena Showalter writes paranormal romance, and while yes, the romance is at times a little "hot and heavy," what I like best about this series is that the romances are not the primary focus.  There is a plot here.  A good, solid plot that builds with every book, becoming more intricate.  A band of immortal warriors who opened the mythical Pandora's box were each cursed to house a demon (defeat, secrets, pain).  Suffice to say, they do not lead normal lives.  And the quest they are engaged in - finding Pandora's box to atone for their sins - only ramps up the danger, yet each book tells the story of one of the warriors, and how through finding love, they learn to survive their demons.  

So yes, the plot works.  Showalter finds new angles to spin it in, with each book.  And another thing I adore is that the same characters we met in the first few books are in the most recent ones.  It's not a case of, character A had his/her book, so now they're relegated to the shadows.  Far from it.  Just because a couple found their happily-ever-after doesn't mean they're out of the picture.  These characters all work together.  And I love that we are meeting new characters who are just as interesting and compelling.  

Add in to that that Amun (the hero of The Darkest Secret and keeper of the demon of secrets) has always made me curious, and in this book, Showalter seems to be planning to (maybe literally) put him through hell, not to mention, pair him up with one of the series most controversial females, and I will definitely be buying a copy as soon as this one hits the shelves!

For I think of us more as flowers in the attic...

I was born premature by three months and my mother taped herself reading me stories, and when she came to sit with baby me in the hospital, scared because she didn't know if I'd be healthy enough to come home soon, she'd play the tapes to me.  She read to me all the time when I was a child, and by the time I was five, I took a book in and read it to my kindergarten class. 

From there, an obsession was born. 

I love books.  I love the smell of old books, and the weight of them in my hands, as I turn the pages.  I love the thrill of deciding to buy a book from a new, unheard of author - and then the even greater thrill of loving the book.  I love re-reading old favorites, and remembering favorite passages before I come upon them.  I love that I can close my eyes and watch a place an author has described bloom, vivid in my mind.  I love letting books carry me away, and letting them change me in little ways. 

I think that's something I want to talk about some here: authors whose stories so impressed and moved me that they literally altered the way I perceived books from then on.  It's happened several times, in different genres, and at various points in my life.  And it always stuns me, coming across that amazing author, who touches your heart and shakes you up, and challenges you.

Today's is V.C. Andrews.

I read Dawn first, not Flowers in the Attic as most people probably did.  To this day, I get mixed reactions when I mention the author's name - some fascinated as I try to describe her gothic tales, some confused, but they all listen, and maybe that's the main thing. 

I had never seen a book like Dawn.  It had what I would later learn is called a keyhole cover.  A scared blonde girl peeked out of it, and as I read the prologue, I instantly knew I was reading something totally foreign and fantastic. I finished the book, and realized there was a sequel, and practically ran to Wal-Mart.  This was in...1999 and they had an entire shelf of V.C. Andrews books.  I let out a sound so high-pitched only dogs could hear it when I saw how many other books there were. 

I went through the Cutler series in no time, and moved on to the Dollanganger series.  Then My Sweet Audrina, then the Casteel series.  Then the Landry series, and the Logan family series.  I was lost to these stories.  These girls, who went through hell, and triumphed.  Who found love, despite all obstacles.  Who never, ever gave up, who struggled through life's tragedies and family secrets.  Each story spun a dark web. 

Eventually, the ghost-writer who took over writing the books after Virginia Andrew died lost his touch, at least in my mind.  I stopped reading the newer books about five or six years ago.  But I will always cherish the early books.  For someone who was used to Judy Blume and Sweet Valley High books, V.C. Andrews was another world entirely.  I am sure my 25 year old self would balk at the books if I re-read them, would probably consider them an affront to feminism.  Maybe I haven't re-read them in so long because I want to keep my memories of them intact.  I roleplay several VCA characters, one of who I have made so entirely my own that I know I couldn't re-read the ghost-written VCA novels he was in. 

Regardless, I will always smile when I think of the adventures I had reading V.C. Andrews novels, and when I think of my favorites: Web of Dreams.  Flowers in the Attic.  My Sweet Audrina.  Dawn.  I started to grow as a writer and as a reader thinks to her genre-challenging stories, to push myself in my own writing.  And later, I met my best friend through a V.C. Andrews roleplay. 

And I remembered to always, always dream.

It is so appropriate to color hope yellow, like that sun we seldom saw.  And as I begin to copy from the old memorandum journals that I kept for so long, a title comes as if inspired.  Open the Window and Stand in the Sunshine.  Yet, I hesitate to name our story that.  For I think of us more as flowers in the attic. 

"That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink."

So let's talk about books, shall we?  That is, after all, what this blog was designed to be about.  (I make no apologies for the fact that I am, at heart, a book nerd through and through.  I have literally flailed over books.  That isn't going to change.  :) )

currently reading:

 

@ amazon.com 

length: 994 pages

currently: 500 pages in

began on: March 08 2011

To date, I am exactly halfway through this book, and deeply craving a day to sit and read, and immerse myself in the world Patrick Rothfuss has created.  There is something about his writing that just pulls me in, and refuses to let go.  And one of these days when I have more than one day off at at a time from work, I - will - finish this book and review it here.  : )

So, this is post #1.  A testing of the waters so to speak.  Maybe I'll remember to post here often.  Let's find out!

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.