Armchair BEA: Interview with Kati from Jagged Edge Reviews

One part of Armchair BEA is the awesome and super fun blogger interviews. Every participant of Armchair BEA gets interviewed and will interview another blogger. I got the chance to get to know Kati from Jagged Edge Reviews. Now you'll get the same chance.

If you had to convince a person into reading, which book would you make him/her read?
Well It all depends on who it is of course. Like my 13 year old cousin I would suggest books by Jen Calonita and simple books like that because she's a star struck kid. For my vampire crazed friends I go with Laney by Joann Sowles, Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen. For more adult readers I go with Janet Evanovich she's an Amazing writer. It all depends on the person and what they are all about.

How did you meet Moujinir, your co-blogger? Do you guys know eachother in real life, or just through the blog?
I'm not going to lie, I do not remember how I met her but I am very thankful for her everyday! She is the best Co-Blogger I have personally ever had. Sadly we only know each other through the blog. But I talk to her as often as I can (which is sadly rare.. Very busy). We text and so on.

On your blog you write that you're an animal lover, could you tell us a little more about your pets?
Ahaha bad choice in questions, I could talk about them forever so I will keep it short.... ish. Oh jeez ok. Well My first cat I got (that I still own) Snickers is a tortoise back Cat. She looks like the inside of a snickers and she is one of the smartest cats I have ever met. I got her when my Great Grandma went to a nursing home and my grandma didn't want an inside cat. She has been around for about.... Well I think I had her since I was in first grade. I have no Idea how long g-g-ma had her.

Next is Sammy He is the sweetest dog I have ever met. He is about 12.. oh he's a collie. I got him when I was in third grade. He was rescued from a farm that found him and was sending him to a humain society. My dad got him from the farmer. Next day mom sent him back. Then dad told him about what the farmer was going to do. We picked him back up cleaned all the burs off him. Brushed him he's been a happy puppy ever since... Now I get scared for him because he is so old. He has problems sitting he doesn't like walking in grass. He has a problem hearing and he leaks all over the floor. I always just sit there and watch him scared he will just stop breathing one day.....

Oh no! I'm past my own limit.. oops. ok well Next I got Oubita Which I renamed Abby aka Obi wan kenobi aka Bo jangles aka B aka bea aka bo bea.. She's got alot of names. :] I've had her 3 years ago this june. People say she's my favorite that just may be true.... Shhhh :] Anyways we got abby from my brother who got her from a puppy mill. Sadly paul couldn't take care of her and gave her to my mom.. I couldn't put her down. She was so scared and she has never left my side since. Abby is a ball of joy and the silliest shit su ever! Very amazing!

Lastly Lucy short for Lucifer. No I am not a devil worshiper... she's just a cruel cat. There is no way anyone could love her like I do. She is so mean and she leaves her scares but she shows her good side sometimes.....sometimes. I always say her scars will always be with me even when shes not. I found her in my attic. It was December 12 and if anyone knows how Wisconsin winters are you know I saved her life. Even though my mom dislikes her and threatened since day one she was going to get rid of her... she hasn't and it's almost been about 5 ish months just a little bit longer then how long I've had my blog. Normally I would now apologize for the length of the answer but.... you asked for it. :]

How do your usually write your reviews? Do you take notes while reading, do you wait a while after reading a book to gather your thoughts on it? etc.
I review as I read. Which is why it is always so messed up and confusing.

If you could spend one day doing whatever you want and being wherever you want (without money being a problem), how would your perfect day look like?
Well the who is easy. My best friend Alison. We would spend the day shopping and traveling. Alison is like the sister I never had. I have 5 brothers so it works. We would go to California, New York, etc.

I'm addicted to chocolate M&M's, green notebooks and Elisabeth Arden lip balm. Do you have any weird addictions?
No.. not that I know of. I love blue and purple so everything I have has to be blue or purple.

Have you always been a reader?
I would love to say yes but sadly I have not. I actually learned to read in maybe 6th grade and since then I have been obsessed in becoming a better reader and reading as much as possible.

Thank you Kati for letting us get to know you! Your animals are really cute, I wish I could have pets as well .. Everybody, go and check out Kati's blog!

Armchair BEA: Best books of 2011

I love this topic! I've read a lot of amazing book that I've been waiting to gush a little more about. So this list might be a bit long, I've warned you.

Since this year is the year of dystopians, I've read a lot of those. I discovered a truly amazing dystopian book series, Gone by Micheal Grant. (My review of Gone, Hunger and Lies.) I love Grant's writing and characters! This year I've also read and loved Enclave by Ann Aguirre, Parasite Positive (aka Peeps) and Specials by Scott Westerfeld.

I picked up Anna and the French Kiss this year after hearing a lot of reviewers raving about this book. And I totally adored it. Another awesome contemporary novel I read this year is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. So frickin good! Probably the very best book I've read this year.

One paranormal romance that I read this year is Angel (Angel Burn in the US) by L.A. Weatherly. I couldn't tear away from that book. I totally love the House of Night series and read the 8th book, Awakened, this January. And gosh, it was so sad! I'll have to end this list with Beautiful Creatures. It was a truly beautiful and heartbreaking story.

Armchair BEA: Who am I?

The easiest and most non-philosophical anwser to that question, is that I'm Olivia. I'm a 15 year old girl who lives in Sweden and I'm the person behind this blog, Magical Books. I'm a proud nerd and nerdfighter and love everything that has to do with math, science and languages. In my free time I usually am with friends, read, play videogames or spend a lot of time in front of my computer.

I love reading (which you totally can't figure out by knowing that I have a book blog) and try to read as much as I can between all of my school work. I'm currently loving this dystopian trend, especially when it involves zombies. But I read most genres.

And why am I attending Amrchair BEA? Well, obviously, I'm not attending the real BEA. But I just want to have a great time together with other book bloggers. I hope you enjoy my blog and visit me again in the future!

Update and my first ever book signing!

Hello!
I'm sorry that I've been absent from my blog these last couple of days. I've not posted as much as I've wanted to. But I've been really busy. There's only three weeks left of school, and because our teachers have to officially turn in our grades to the school next week, we've had tons of tests. But fotunately, our last test of the year will be on Tusday!

Today I was on my first ever book signing. It was for the Swedish book Cirkeln, which I've told you guys about in an IMM post a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, there was a little Q&A with the authors and then they signed our books and everybody got a Cirkeln bag. I also found out that Holly Black will have a signing at the same bookstore next Thursday! I'll definitely be there.

Divergent - Trailer of the Week

The most discussed book this month is probably Divergent. When I came home from school today, I finally found it in my mailbox! To celebrate me starting to read this awesome book, the trailer of the week will be the official trailer of Divergent by Veronica Roth!

First picture of Katniss!

The first official picture of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen was released today! Entertainment Weekly has this picture on their cover. She looks a lot more like Katniss that I'd expected, but she's still just too old. Sorry.
Now when the shooting is beginning I'm really hoping for a lot of pictures to be published. There's not even one year left to the premiere!

Enclave - Review

Enclave (Razorland #1)
by Ann Aguirre
Rating: 5/5

Goodreads | Author Website | Author Twitter | Book Trailer

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.

Wow, this book is amazing. I love it! It's one of the best dystropians I've ever read, it's at the same level as the Hunger Games and the Gone series. Yes, it's that good.

The world that this novel tells us about is really something special. Deuce, the heroine, lives in tunnels, under the ground, in a small enclave and has a simple task to follow. She has to get out of the safety zone and hunt for food in the tunnels, where the bloodthirsty "freaks" are. Her life is ruled by the elderel's rules and she's okay with that. This life is her reality.

One thing that really hit me is how well written all the action and fighting scenes were. The were detailed, heart racing and so real. I really love well written action scenes, and these drew me into the story really fast.

This book made me think about how easily people can be manipulated and how only the things you know about becomes your reality. How everything that you don't know about, doesn't exist. Deuce's reality was her enclave and the hard life she was living. That was all she knew about. But there was so much more to the world that she was amazed to find out about. You know what your reality is like, but I wonder what's for us to find out about?

Noteworthy Blog Posts (#5)

Long time ago since I did one of these posts, huh? But due to the lack of these posts I have a long list of various stuff I've found on the Internet that I want to share with you guys!

I'm currently really hooked up on dystropians with zombie apocalypses. I've recently read Enclave by Ann Aguirre and the short story Zombicorns by John Green (can be downloaded for free HERE) and I have a lot of zombie apocalypse novels waiting to be read, like Feed by Mira Grant and The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. All of those are fiction, but what if a zombie apocalypse would happen in real life? This article discusses how a zombie virus would be made, how to fight back and why we study zombies.


Sarah Curran-Ross, the author of The Organ Grinder, wrote a guest post about female characters and their "thoughness" on the blog Lost For Words.

Being a new blogger can be hard. I still consider myself a fairly new blogger, but I am slowly getting into the community, learning how to balance the blog with my private life and finding my own voice. If you're thinking about creating a blog, check out these tips from Tynga at Tyngas reivews (thought the posts is a guest post and posted on New Books for New Bloggers)

Write book. Add water. Grow dollars? Nope. That not how it is. At least not for Lauren DeStefano, the author of Wither. You can read about her journey here.

Lies - Trailer of the Week

Trailer of the Week is coming a bit late this week! I had this post scheduled, but because of Blogger not running like it should, it wasn't posted.

You probably know that I'm a big fan of the Gone series by Michael Grant. How could one not be after reading those wonderful books? (And if you haven't read them, do it now!)

This is the official trailer for the third book in the series, Lies. It really captures the whole feeling and plot of the books. And even if it's a trailer for the third book, there's no spoilers for the previous books!

Happy birthday to me!

Yes, today is my birthday! I'm turning 15. According to Swedish laws, that means that I can drive a moped if I want to, I can watch whatever movies I want and if I do something illegal I can be thrown into a teenager jail! Sound fun, huh?

Stephenie Meyer's The Host lead role casted

Saoirse Ronan is the lucky girl who got the part as Melanie Stryder in the movie version of Stephenie Meyer's the Host! 

It has been a while since we heard any news from the Host and I almost believed that they had stopped the production or something. But apparently, it's still on track! 

Anna and the French Kiss - Trailer of the Week

Today Stephanie Perkins tweeted a link to a super cute fan made trailer for Anna and the French Kiss. I watched it and loved it! It's a simple stop motion video which doesn't say too much about the book, but just shows things that are connected to the story.

Read more about Anna and the French Kiss on Goodreads

Parasite Positive (aka Peeps) - Review

Parasite Positive aka Peeps (Peeps #1)
by Scott Westerfeld
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Author Website | Author Twitter

Two days after arriving in New York for college, Cal loses his virginity to a girl who picks him up. From this encounter Cal picks up an STD, but this is an unusual one: it turns its victims into "peeps" -- parasite positives—raving cannibalistic monsters with unusual strength, night vision, heightened senses, and an affinity with rats. Cal himself turns out to be immune, but he's a carrier—he gets the strength and senses without the nasty side effects. But before he knows it he has infected others.

Cal is recruited by the Night Watch, a secret government organization that has existed for centuries to contain the disease and its victims. His first assignment is to capture all the girls he's infected. But soon Cal realizes that there is more going on than he has been told: the disease is changing in response to mysterious forces from under the earth that are waking up after centuries of slumber.


8 reasons to read Parasite Positive (aka Peeps)

1. It's a completely new take on vampires. They're kind of raw and zombie like in their eating, they hate everything that they loved in their former life and you can become a vampire by just kissing somebody who has the parasite.
2. This book is filled with a lot of different genres. It's paranormal meets dystropian meets horror meets zombie apocalypse meets romance meets action meets adventure ...
3. It's seriously action filled and fast paced. You will not be able to tare yourself away from the book because you have to know what happens next.
4. Some chapters are like essays about real parasites. They're super creepy and I freaked out all of my friends by reading those chapters aloud.
5. There was also a cute little romance going on. 
6. It was a very quick read which I read in one sitting.
7. The author is frickin Scott Westerfeld! He's awesome!
8. This book is simply just amazing and everyone should read it.