2015 Reading Bites Challenge Info and Sign Up Page

I love anything to do with vampires. One of my favorite sayings is "Forget being a princess. I want to be a vampire!" Well, I haven't been reading as many books about vampires as I would like so I created a vampire themed reading challenge for 2015.
I'm inviting others who love the vampire book genre to join me for this reading challenge. This is a design it yourself challenge. I want you to choose your own reading goals.
The Rules: This challenge begins January 1, 2015 and ends Dec 31, 2015.
You may sign up anytime during the year.
I won't be creating different levels. Read as little or as many books as you want.
You may include books of any format including traditional books, ebooks, or audiobooks.
Books may be YA, adult, horror, romance, etc. 
You may reread books.
Books may count towards other reading challenges.
Use the hashtag #2015ReadingBites
If you could be so kind, please place the The Reading Bites Challenge banner on your blog to help spread the word.
Please link back to this blog, post about it on Facebook, Tweet about it, and so on to help spread the word. 
Signing Up Before signing up, please create a post or page where you will list all the books you have read and then use that link for your Mr. Linky below. 
If you don't have a blog you can still sign up by using a link to your Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and so on.

The Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-thon Goals (Revised 11/8)

I thought this read-a-thon started yesterday so I'm posting a day late. The Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-thon is hosted by BookShelfery and Caffienated Book Reviewer. Here is more info:

Read-a-thon Rules

• For this read-a-thon you must read holiday themed or winter setting reads.
• Link-up Before or on November 6th post a goals post to your blog. (if you do not have a blog post to another social media site such as Goodreads, Tumblr, Facebook, Google+ etc ) Be sure and link back to Caffeinated Book Reviewer and BookShelfery 
• Grab the button and share ! 
• Participate in at least one challenge to be eligible for grand prize 
• Tweet your progress using #HoHoHoRAT 
• Twitter Party! Sunday November 9, 2014 at 4pm (EST) chatting and prizes to be had. 
• Challenge schedule and Grand Prize widget and rules will post on November 6th by 8 am (EST) 
• Read-a-thon starts on November 6th 12:o1 am (your time zone) and ends on November 11 at 11:59 pm(your time zone) 
• Challenges will be open from 8 am (EST) on the 6th and remain open until Nov 11th at 11:59 pm (EST) 
• Grand Prize Raffle will be open until November 13th at 11:59 pm (EST) to allow you to submit entries. 
• All winners of challenges and grand prize will be notified by November 15th.

The Ho-Ho-Ho Mini Challenges

Bea @ Bea’s Book Nook “Word Scramble Challenge”
Trish@ Between the Lines “Name That Book”
Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts “Holiday Wish Challenge”
April @ My Shelf Confessions “Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-thon Puzzle”
Melissa & Truffles @ Mochas, Mysteries and Meows  “Christmas Truffles’ Purr-fect Holiday Reading List Challenge”
Ginny @ Gin’s Book Notes “Build a Snowman Challenge”
Jennifer @The Book Nympho “Holiday Reading Selfie”

My Goals for The Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-thon

Goal #1 Read A Winter's Tale by Mark Heprin. 
Now this book is far from a novella (see the Novella Novermber Challenge) but I have been planning on reading it for a few weeks now. I was worried I would have to put it off even longer so was really happy winter themed books are allowed.

Goal #1 Read as many Christmas and winter books as I can especially novellas

I made it to page 210 of Winter's Tale and thought I was going to lose my mind. It's not an easy read at all. I wasn't enjoying it. I may pick it up again in the new year but I have other books that are more of a priority.

At the top of my list is the recently released novella The Christmas Cat by Melody Carlson.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

After watching this movie a long time ago I bought the book. It's sat on my shelf unread. I'm so happy I finally read it. A lot of people describe this book as being "like Twilight only with zombies." This is a mostly accurate description.
Here's the book description: R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. 

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. 

 Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.

In general, romance novels describe the power of love as being life changing and making one feel alive. In this story, it literally happens. As someone who loves zombie stories this one is refreshingly different.

R is different than other zombies. He's smarter. He's philosophical. He has a sense of humor. And he has a small grasp on the English language still. He also has met and fallen in love with a human. To say they are star crossed lovers is an understatement. Their love won't just save each other, it might just save all the zombies.

The story implies that what has happened to the world is some sort of punishment. This is best shown by the presence of the Bonies. These are supernatural monsters that are like demons, if demons all shared a mind like a group of skeletal robots. They are determined to preserve a certain order among the zombies that gets disrupted by R falling in love with Julie.

My absolute favorite quote from this book (and now my favorite quote ever from any book) goes as following:

What a massive responsibility, being a moral creature.

This sums up R's internal struggle. He has to fight his zombie nature and figure out how to be a human again. My rating is a solid

The Movie
The movie isn't as good as the book. The plot with the Bonies is confusing and the story feels rushed. The movie lacks the philosophical elements of the book but does keep the humor. It also lacks the more supernatural elememts that are in the book and is a more straightforward mmonster movie. Then ending isn't as dramatic as the book.

The Prequel
I had no idea that there was a prequel to Warm Bodies until I was at Amazon.com today. The prequel is called The New Hunger.

Novella November Reading Challenge

Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads are hosting a reading challenge that goes right along with NaNoWriMo. They are having the Novella November Reading Challenge. A novella is a long short story (yes I know that's an oxymoron) that is 20,000 words to 50,000 words long (which equals about 80 to 200 pages.)

If you are doing NaNoWriMo like I am, you don't have a lot of time to read. Not to mention reading novellas certainly helps show you how to write them. So this reading challenge is perfect for those of us doing NaNoWriMo.

The Goal

Read as many novellas as you can

The Rules

• The challenge will run from November 1st at 12:00 am until November 30th at 11:59 pm
•  You can sign up here or at Writer Grrl Reads To join, just make a sign up post and add it to the linky below 
• Any short story counts, not just those in a series 
• Any series novellas read during this month will count for double points in the Prequel & Sequel challenge (2 points each instead of 1) 
• In order to get double points, you must have made a sign up post for this challenge and added it to the linky Sign ups close November 17th 
• We will try to host a small giveaway for all participants at the end of the challenge!

Here are some novella reading lists:

46 Brilliant Short Novels You Can Read In A Day

These Amazing Classic Books Are So Short You Have No Excuse Not To Read Them

50 Incredible Novels Under 200 Pages

Goodreads World's Greatest Novellas

Christmas and Winter Novellas

Feature and Follow

Question of the Week: What books would you give to newbies in your favorite genre? (Ex. I’m a newbie to high fantasy and EVERYONE said to ease into it with the Throne of Glass series!

My answer: My favorite genre is chick lit. I would give newbies the book that launched the entire chick lit genre which is Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding.

The featured blog this week is A Thousand Words, A Million Books.

The Rules of Feature & Follow Friday:
To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
8. If you're new to the Follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

My favorite way to follow is through Bloglovin and now Feature and Follow Friday has graphics to let your readers know. Feel free to follow any way that you want (I'll take all the follows I can get) but I do favor Bloglovin. 

Santa's Little Helper by H. D. Gordon

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of this ebook for two reasons. It was right before Halloween and it was the first time I had ever gotten an advance copy of a book to review. I have a confession to make though. When I read the book I didn't start with an entirely open mind. I thought the title was a little cheesy and the book would be too.

I was wrong. Very wrong actually.

Here is the book description:

He shows up in a white box, with a bright red book under his arm... He wears a jolly grin and hat, a suit with gold bells and green yarn... He watches you for Santa, or so his red book claims... But though his grin is jolly, he's not here for fun and games... 

The children have been chosen, such precious little souls they are... And may the Gods be with them, if they wish to make it very far... For Santa's Little Helper does not say, but knows important things... He knows when you've been bad or good, and what monsters stalk your dreams... He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake...He's picking out his presents...He's got some souls to take.

H. D. Gordon explained that the idea for Santa's Little Helper from Elf on the Shelf. So when I started the book, I was expecting the elf doll to stay a doll. Santa's Little Helper is far more sophisticated and versatile than that. He has powers like shapeshifting. He also has a true form that is scary as hell.

The story follows how the elf chooses four children and their families. The elf doesn't just attack but behaves like a mental and emotional terrorist in a cat and mouse game. The children that he chooses have a complex family life that sometimes works in their favor and sometimes works in favor of the elf.

While the elf's target is the children, five year olds cannot fight evil by themselves. The children confide in their teacher, their siblings, and their parents in an effort to get help to fight Santa's Little Helper. This is a horror story but it is also about the bonds of family and how the love and sacrifice of parents is often what saves the lives of children. Emphasis on the word sacrifice.

Of the four families, the story about the daughter and her mother dealing with an alcoholic abusive husband and father was my favorite. While all the stories dealt with complex human emotions, this one dealt with what happens when human beings become the monster. At times it was hard to know who was scarier, the killer elf or the abusive man.

Gordon also manages to weaves in philosophical issues such as the moral issue of lying to kids about Santa Claus, what evil is, the nature of God and the Devil, and the significance of losing your childhood innocence.

Simply put, this story is not just about a killer elf doll. It is about many other things as well. Still I'm glad to have read it now before December when I get out the Elf on the Shelf doll. As creepy as this book was, I still will be an Elf on the Shelf mom.

Speaking of Elf on the Shelf, I do worry a bit that H. D. Gordon might run into some copyright issues with this book. In the novel, there is a book that tells a similar background story for the elf doll. At one point Gordon describes the elf doll as being on a shelf. I certainly hope Gordon never has any problems with this.

Lastly, as I read this book I couldn't help but think it would make a really great horror movie. My rating is 

The book goes on sale at Amazon on Halloween. I was given an advance copy of the book for an honest review. No other compensation was recieved.

My Reading Goals for the Wonderfully Wicked and Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thons

There are two upcoming read-a-thons that conviently overlap. I will be tweeting throughout these read-a-thons so please follow me @magicbookreview to see my progress!

The first is the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon which is hosted by My Shelf Confessions. This is a low pressure read-a-thon with no book reqirements. It last's from October 17-27. You can sign up anytime here anytime before Oct 25 and still participate. Reading starts tonight at midnight! Use the hashtag #wwreadathon on social media.

My Reading Goals for the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon:

Read at least three books.

Book 1: Read the advanced copy I received of Santa's Little Helper by H.D. Gordon.

Book 2: Read a Stephen King book. (I haven't yet decided which one.)

Book 3: Read a book that is part of a reading challenge I have signed up for.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon is great fun but the opposite of low pressure because you only have one full day to reach your reading goals! There are mini-challenges and prizes throughout the challenge. The read-a-thon is on October 18 but the start times are not simply midnight to midnight. Sign up for the read-a-thon here. If you don't want to participate as a reader but want to support those who have there is also a cheerleader sign up. Hashtags include #Readathon #Dewey #MiniChallenge #RahRahReadathon1

My Reading Goals for Dewey's Read-a-thon:

1. Finish reading Santa's Little Helper by H.D. Gordon if I haven't already done so.
2. Read several short stories.
3. When I've finished Santa's Little Helper, read the Stephen King book.

On top of doing these read-a-thons, I'm also trying to prepare for NaNoWriMo so I'm not putting too much pressure on myself but I think reading is a great way to get in the mindset for writing a novel, so it's really a win-win.

*Update*
There's another read-a-thon! I just discovered the Reading Cram 2.0: Chills and Thrills Readathon! This read-a-thon is Oct 24 - 31. I think since I will be partway through the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-thon I'll see where I'm at and choose my reading goals then.