Life is Happening to Me

Just a little note to say that I have been away because life is happening to me, and unfortunately not in a good way :/

I hope to be back soon :)

Cheers,
LJ

New Look!

Isn't it absolutely Beautiful????????!!!

I decided a while ago that I wanted to have a design all of my own, but since I suck at anything remotely design-y, I asked around, and looked around some, and was finally pointed to Lori at Imagination Designs.

I can't tell you how happy I am with what she has done! And she was super patient with my choosiness and fickle-osity too! I am soooooo happy with this I could just cry!

It's super awesome and super affordable, too!
Thank you so much, Lori, for making my space a place I can enjoy hanging out on the web!

A thousand times thank you and a thousand times recommendations if anyone is looking for a blog design.

Oh I love this!!!

Playing Around With Names

Ok.

So I am a rather fickle person when it comes to naming things. I change my mind and change my mind and change my mind all over again. I have renamed my unborn kids a thousand times over.

The blog too.
Thank goodness I like the blog address. I think it took me a coupla changes to fix that one.

Well, anyway, the blog:

It started out as LADY JAYE READS,
became BY THE FIRESIDE, 
then became READING BY THE FIRESIDE....

and now I am considering changing it all over again, since it's gonna be not-a-review blog, but  diary-ish blog (for me at least. There is every chance that it won't look or sound like a diary-ish blog to you, hehe).

After much thinking (I suck at creative name things :/) I came up with one I liked and thought was perfect:

A Reading Life

But there are a coupla other blogs that have that name :(.

At first, I was going to abandon it, since it's bad form, I think, to use  name that's already been used.
But then, since so many other sites have the name, it's not bad form after all, right? And the url is still unique.

What to do, what to do?

Cover Reveal: Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews

I just saw this on Ilona Andrews' website: the cover for Gunmetal Magic, Kate Daniels #5.5, also known as the Andrea spinoff. It's slated for publication August 2012.

 

I like it. It think it definitely conveys Andrea's 'badass' aura, so the feel is right, but.... I don't know if the face is right, if you know what I mean.  Excited!

Nevertheless, I think it's my favorite cover so far in this series. 

Oh, and I love the view of a magic-ravaged Atlanta in the beackground.

Thank you!!

This post is just to say thank you to Bilal Aslam, who helped me get threaded comments on my blog.  I am a technology dunce, you see, and when I couldn't figure it out fro the instructions on his blog, he took the time to have me email him my template and then he fixed it for me. That was so nice of him!

For anyone who's having similar trouble, I suggest you take a look at the tutorial: click me!!
I would also encourage just browsing his blog, which has tons of useful tutorials for bloggers who use blogger.

If you're reading this, Bilal, thank you so much! You are a prince among men! :D

LJ
 

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2012

I am joining in Book Chick City's 100 books in a year reading challenge.  To learn more about it, click the button on the top right corner of the blog :)

The challenge is to read 100 books in the year. I am keeping my tally here. Since we don't have to review the books, this will include books I read but don't review (so basically it will be the same as my Goodreads list) as well as rereads (I don't mark rereads on GoodReads).

Come join the fun!

**Clicking on the links to the books will take you to the GoodReads page for the book :)

January Reads (and/or Rereads)
1. Bone Crossed ★★★★ 2/01
2. Never to Sleep ★★★ 2/01
3. Storm Front ★★★★ 3/01
4. Touch of Power ★★★★★ 4/01
5. Gift of Magic ★★★ 6/01
6. The Inherited Bride ★★★ 7/01
7. The Scandal in Bohemia ★★★★ 7/01
8. Murder at the Vicarage ★★★ 9/01
9. Touch the Dark ★★ 10/01
10.Thunderbird Falls ★★★ 12/01
11.Love, Come to Me ★★★½ 14/01
12.Poison Study ★★★★ 15/01
13.Silver Borne ★★★★★ 16/01
14.The Graveyard Book ★★★★★ 17/1
15.Mr. Impossible ★★★ 19/01
16.Grimspace ★★★★½ 21/01
17.A Cold Day for Murder ★★★ 23/01
18.Magic Study ★★★½ 23/01
19.Ill Wind ★★★ 23/01
20.Under Her Skin ★★★★ 23/01
21.Blood Bound ★★★★ 25/01
22.Spindle's End ★ 26/01
23.For Duty's Sake ★★★ 27/01
24.Bitten ★★★ 28/01
25.A Lot Like Love ★★★★★ 28/01
26.In Bed with a Highlander ★★★ 29/01
27.Fire Study ★★★ 29/01
28.Assassin Study ★★★★ 30/01
29.Coyote Dreams ★★★★ 30/01
30.Magic in the Wind (Drake Sisters, #1) ★★★★ 31/01
31.The Conqueror's Lady ★★★★ 31/01

February Reads and/or Rereads
1. Walking Dead ★★★★ 1/02
2. Blood Cross ★★½ 4/02
3. Extreme Exposure ★★★★ 5/02
4. Glass Houses ★★★½ 6/02
5. On the Prowl ★★★★ 7/02
6. The Dutiful Wife ★★ 8/02
7. Fool Moon ★★★½ 9/02
8. Heartless ★★★½ 11/02
9. Once a Ferrara Wife ★★★★ 11/02
10.Grave Peril ★★★★ 12/02
11.A Bride for Kolovsky ★★★★ 12/02
12.Grave Peril ★★★★ 12/02
13.The Bride ★★★★★ 14/02
14.Demon Hunts ★★ 14/02
15.The Conqueror ★★★ 15/02
16.Heidi ★★★★ 16/02
17.Unholy Ghosts ★★★ 18/02
18.Desert Warrior ★★★ 20/02
19.Unholy Magic★★★★ 20/02
20.Home★★★★ 21/02
21.City of Ghosts ★★★★ 22/02

March Reads and Rereads:
1.Dead Witch Walking ★★ 1/03
2.The Mane Event ★★★ 3/03
3.Summer Knight ★★★ 5/03
**4.Archangel★★★★★ 7/03**
5.Magic Strikes Hot Tub Scene ★★★★ 7/03
6.At Grave's End ★★★½ 9/03
7.Tempted by Her Innocent Kiss ★★ 10/03
8.Home Improvement: Undead Edition ★★★ 11/03
9.Angels' Pawn ★★★★ 12/03
10.The Story of Your Life... 12/03 ★★★½
11.A Lady's Lesson in Scandal 12/03 ★★★
12.Ice Study 13/03 ★★★
13.The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie 13/03 ★★★
14.The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born 14/03 ★★★★
15.Hexed 16/03 ★★★

2011 Reading Review

2011 was a really good reading year for me.

Kid in a candy store: It's been a year of discovery.
Amazing discovery. For one, I discovered Goodreads properly. Before this year, I think I had just about 1 autobuy author: Sharon Shinn. This has changed, and I am a coupla hundred dollars poorer for it.



It is the year I rediscovered my first love, fantasy, and found new facets of it that I have come to love almost as much as the ones I knew already: like Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Fantasy/Romance.

It is also the year I found two new favorite authors,  after picking up their books on a whim

Ilona Andrews
Nalini Singh

I love, love, love their work, the worlds they've created, and the characters they've made. And it is with Ilona Andrews I discovered just how much fun snark can be when done right. I learned to persevere. I borrowed On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. It took me a while to get into it. But I kept on...and ended up loving it. Same with Magic Bites. Now the Kate Daniels series has to be just about my favorite series of all time, I think. At least it's definitely in the top 5.

I didn't read any high/epic fantasy this year. I found one, and  I haven't found any/gotten around to reading it: George R.R. Martin and his  A Song of Ice and Fire

This year was also the year I learned not to judge a book by its cover. I'd noticed Nalini's books in the library several times before, but moved on because the covers were nothing to write home about. Well, I'd been doing that to another series I found in the YA/Science Fiction & Fantasy shelves. Patricia Briggs and her Mercedes Thompson series. The cover for Moon Called didn't impress me. AT ALL. I gave it a side-eye and passed it by every single time I was in that section. Every. Singe. Time. I relented when I saw how much some of my friends from goodreads loved Patty Briggs' writing. Now I also count myself among those who love Ms. Briggs and the characters she has created to absolute bits (Samuel!! :D).

I've discovered some riveting YA, with the best of the lot being Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers Series.

I discovered that I am very unlikely to read anymore books by Laurell K. Hamilton, and am almost ready to write off Allyson James and Courtney Milan.

And, best of all, I discovered my ignorance when it comes to great authors. So many authors, so many series to look forward to. So many other sub-genres to discover, and so many new (and old non-fave) genres to try. Here's to 2012!!

I hope you had as good a reading time as I did this past year.
Here's to an even better 2012!!

Hello and Welcome!

I will be posting reviews of books I read on here. and movies. and anything that catches my passing fancy. glad you stopped by.