I love books. And I love cupcakes. I spend alot of time reading blogs about both. Then I thought to myself, wouldn't it be fun to have it all in one? So here's the plan. Here on my little blog, you're going to find book reviews (mostly YA, because I'm absolutely addicted to them) and once in while I'll show you what I'm cooking up in my little vintage aprons, recipes and all. It's gonna be fun---visit often!! :)
To contact me regarding this blog or if you are a publisher/author with a book you'd like reviewed, send an email to:
storiesandsweetiesblog@gmail.com
See Review Policy
I am currently accepting YA books for review, but I am not accepting ebooks.
Super Six Sunday is a meme hosted by the fabulous Bewitched Bookworms. Join in the fun...see upcoming themes here!!
One of the most exciting things about being a book blogger and all-round book lover is meeting the wonderful people who give us these amazing stories to read.
In the past three years, I've definitely been lucky in being able to meet some of my very favorites. Here are my top 6!!
Anna Carey
Such a sweet person to chat with. When I met her I had recently
interviewed her on the blog and she remembered the cupcake question.
She signed my book "To Becky, My Sweetie!" :D
Stephanie Perkins
This girl has so much fun energy! I saw her and Maureen Johnson together in San Francisco and they both looked like there were have a blast together.
Tahereh Mafi
If you ever have a chance to meet this amazing author, TAKE IT. She is so inspiring and fun to hear speak.
Jackson Pearce
I got meet Jackson Pearce at ALA. She is one of my favorites, so I was just so greatful to finally catch her on one of her rare visits to the west coast!
Ransom Riggs
Another amazing author to hear speak. SO much great writing advice and lots of funny stories. That's Michelle Gagnon and Tahereh Mafi on either side of him, and the three of them together were hilarious.
Kendare Blake
I met Kendare at ALA last year and her's was my most-wanted book at the conference. I think she was the first author to tell me she knew my blog so you can image just how much that made my day!!
So that's my list!! It's always fun to meet great our favorite authors and I hope I can meet many more in the coming years! :)
Well, this is a first---Amy & I actually read the same book at the same time! :) We both LOVED this one, so we both wanted to share a few thoughts on it!
It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.
His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live--not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.
Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.
Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.
Review: On Aquiring Girl of Nightmares:
Amy:Anna Dressed in Blood was most likely one of my favorite reads last year, and one of the main reasons I went to ALA this year. I couldn't wait to meet the woman behind the amazing strong willed character, Anna. And I wasn't disappointed. Kendare Blake was a pleasure to meet and shake hands with. I asked her to sign the cover of my copy of Anna Dressed in Blood and she so obliged and did so with a red sharpie to boot. I couldn't wait to bring the book home and front it on my shelf of favorites!
Becky:Yes, after completely being blown away by Anna last year, Girl of Nightmares was one of those books that it didn't matter how long the line was, I would have waiting hours in line at ALA for the chance to meet Kendare and get the coveted second book! She was awesome---and she knew of Stories & Sweeties! I think my head spun a little at that. :) I was completely starstruck.
On the "GUTS" of the story ;)
Becky:Absolutely fantastic. Every bit as good as the first, but so incredibly different. Its been a few months since Anna saved them all, and Cas starts to see gory visions of her everywhere. Is she in trouble? Has she crossed back over? He knows he has to do something, but also knows everyone will think he's crazy. So much more going on in this one emotionally, too---Thomas is an even more awesome character this time, always up for a challenge and always there to support Cas. Things get complicated with Carmel as she grapples with her part in all of it. We get to see more of the mysterious Gideon and new characters come into the picture---one that I especially loved, Jestine. She keeps us guessing where her loyalties lie (I don't think even she know for sure), but she is all spunk---her feistiness very nearly gets her killed in her very first appearance! And the gore---OH, the GORE. I have to say, there was way more gore this time around. There are times when the ghosts are almost more like zombies. Dark, dark, stuff happening all around.
Amy: EPIC!! That's all I can say about this book. I was almost trepidacious about cracking open the cover. Scared to start only because I didn't want it to end. Girl of Nightmares doesn't disappoint, and is the perfect companion to the first book. Anna winds herself back into Cas' life even though she always was present in his heart. Cas faces some tough choices throughout the book that only loving a dead girl can bring. He leaves no stone unturned or detail unpolished, which keeps you captivated from cover to cover. And as Kendare Blake promised, there is no gore lost in this sequel. Horror and Gore abound in every last blood dripping detail. I don't know where she comes up with the story but it has fresh, new twists at every bend that almost leave you breathless.
The End: Becky:I think this may be the end, my friends. Sad as that makes me, this story definitely came to a complete, mind-blowingly exciting, but satisfying end. I can't think of how the story might continue---but if anyone's imagination could do it, it's the brilliant Kendare Blake! I guess we'll have to wait and see! If not, I'll definitely miss all of these amazing characters!
Amy's cupcake match: Dark chocolate for the color of Anna's hair, cherry pie filling in the center so it bleeds when you cut into it, with wild wispy chocolate dark frosting on top. Only a dark gooey chocolate cupcake can match the darkness of this book.
description: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.
Review: In one word: Awesome!
I really loved this one. It was a little of everything: tense, funny, sentimental, adventurous, terrifying, gory, romantic. All of that and more. Let me tell you, I normally steer clear of anything gory, which is why you don't find too many zombie books on this blog...I just don't have the stomach for it. Anna Dressed in Blood had moments of sheer gore, blood everywhere, people getting ripped in half---and yet I was so wrapped up in the wild story, it didn't bother me. Some of the terrifying moments were so intense and the monsters so creepy, they snuck into my dreams, but I enjoyed the characters and their dilemmas too much to stop.
The beginning hits the ground running and never stops. We don't get told what Cas does for a living, we step right into the passenger seat and get shown first hand this boy in action. Cas was far from a normal everyday guy. Yet I found him completely relatable. He was funny, so clever, wickedly brave, and had made a fine art out of keeping people at arms length. Confidence that bordered on cockiness once in a while, but that made it all the more entertaining to see him knocked off his game by the mysterious Anna.
The big surprise: This book, Anna's story specifically, had me in tears. The last thing I expected when I cracked open this book, was to need to reach for the kleenex. It was that complex, that intense...that good.
Scary, thrilling, fun, and more than a little stomach-turning...but Anna Dressed in Blood is so worth it.
Final note: Upon finishing this, I completely thought this would be a stand-alone. But a sequel has recently been announced! No details yet, but this will be high on my wishlist for 2012!
