The Elite by Kiera Cass

The Elite by Kiera Cass

Publisher: Harper Teen   
Publication date: April 23rd 2013
My rating: not sure

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.
America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.
Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

Last year there was this huge scandal with certain blogger and her review of Selection. She didn't like it which resulted in author's agent going after her. There was name-calling, attacks on personal level and that was pretty much the start of whole author vs. blogger debacle that's still going on, only with different authors and bloggers. 

I wasn't one of those people who hated The Selection when it first came out. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt and find out for myself if it's awful just like some people are saying. It wasn't. It was pretty decent. Definitely a book for younger audience. It didn't have that dark dystopian feel to it but I was ok with it since romance was the center of whole book and everything else wasn't as important. 

However, The Elite gave me a headache. It was nothing like Selection and I was upset because I was looking forward to find out what happens next. There were so many problems I couldn't ignore. I even wrote a list and here it is:

1. predictability 

2. annoying love triangle

3. unstable/fickle heroine 

4. repetitive

I'm just gonna explain why I felt that way, so be aware, there are some small spoilers ahead. 

1. Predictability - Pretty much from the start I knew where the story was going and I wasn't surprise when certain things happened, mainly that whole situation with Marlee. It got better towards the end. 

2. Annoying love triangle - I'm up for a love triangle cause they bring more drama but I don't approve when both love interests go from great to these characters which make some nasty decisions only to be redeemed afterwards. I can't forget the shitty things they did. I can't. It just sticks in my head and there's no going back. Cass did this with Maxon two or three times in The Elite. 

3. Unstable/fickle heroine - This is connected to #2. A lot of decisions America makes is because Mazon did something she didn't approve. She would run in Aspen's arms whenever that happened and Aspen was clueless about her feelings towards Maxon. When Maxon apologized or explained why he did what he did she would pick him again. She got into a fight with a girl in selection. I guess you already know who was it, right? There is one thing she did right. She had a speech and it brought people hope of better tomorrow. But one little speech doesn't make me forget what idiot she was throughout the whole thing. 

4. Repetitive - This is the thing which annoyed me more. Rebels broke into the palace so many times it was just ridiculous. They would spray the walls and steal books. So many times. What kind of kingdom is this if they can't even defend the heart of the country? And there's America going from one guy to another every time it doesn't go her way. 

I will read the final book since I already read this much but I certainly won't expect much. I just hope America stays with the choice she made in the end of The Elite. 

Joint Review: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: Harper 
Publication date: February 5th 2013
My rating: 5 stars

tickticktickticktick
it's
 almost time for war.Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

 If you thought Shatter Me was something special, wait till you read Unravel Me. Tahareh's writing style just amazes me. How she merges poetry with prose. It's just so beautiful. If, by any chance you still haven't read Unravel Me, or dare I say Shatter Me, please, do because there is no way you won't like what this woman has to say. It's an emotional bomb. Ovaries were exploding every time Warner showed up. 

Unravel Me starts of with Juliette and Adam discovering he isn't immune to Juliette's touch. So they try to stay away from one another which only brings out almost 200 pages of relationship drama. Don't get me wrong, I was enjoying it because it was all working out the way I hoped it would. In the middle of this drama Warner appears and we see the amazing dog scene from Destroy Me in Juliette's POV. She can't get Warner out of her head because he seemed so different from the cruel and heartless guy she met in the first book. 

Warner! How much I love him! He was the villain which I don't actually see as one. He's just got a lot of daddy issues like pretty much anyone in this book. I was a huge Warner fan since Shatter Me, he made me fall in love with him in Destroy Me and I was totally crazy after I got to know him even more in Unravel Me.  He is smart, good-looking well trained soldier. He loves to read and whenever he speaks he  does seem better than others, in spite of his flaws. And yet, there are so many things we don't know about him. Tahereh is a smart lady. She's not going to reveal all her card till the final round. 

*dies* *dies* *dies*

Chapter 62 deserves to be mentioned too for I feel there hasn't been a chapter this emotional and hot, well, since forever. It gave me so much joy and yet I wanted more. Since I have both hardback and the audiobook of Unravel Me I had to listen so I can experience it in another, totally different way. And let me tell you, the way that Kate Simses narrates is just unbelievable. You can feel the longing and restraint. 

Why you do this to me, Tahereh? 

Juliette and Warner are going to end up together in the final book because there is no way Tahereh wrote all that in Unravel Me and say 'Oh, that wasn't anything special. Juliette and Adam are endgame.' I refuse to believe there is even a small chance it won't go my way. I mean, after so many of my teams lost, I at least deserve to get this one! I deserve to be happy and so do these characters.  Even Tahereh's mum is on Team Warner. :D 

Me daydreaming I'm Juliette. 

I don't care much about Adam. He can be unhappy for the rest of his life. LOL I did like him in Shatter Me and yet there was Warner. Warner steals every scene. Adam, the stoic guy who walks in thigh shirts just seems unrealistic. There's just something that rubs me the wrong way whenever he's there. And even Juliette doesn't think he can handle her deepest secrets but she can confide in Warner. A & J just aren't compatible enough. 

No, she doesn't, Luna. No, she doesn't. 

There was one character I need to mention. He saved our Juliette from being a big mess after she faces every small obstacle. It's Kenji! He is an epithet for what it means to be a friend, even though he was just doing his job. He was Juliette's rock, while Adam was out sulking and dealing with his problems. Kenji, the guy who always makes us laugh with his roguish charm has some secrets of his own. He doesn't share a lot of his true feeling but it was obvious he cares about a lot of people. I'm sure Tahereh will write a novella in his POV so we'll finally understand why he is the way he is. 

Kenji when he's around Juliette 

And last but not least, Juliette. She went through a transformation. She still cries, pities herself and apologizes to everyone for every single thing people don't approve about her. After she talked with Warner I believe he gave her some insight how to overcome those things and by the end she was fierce. That last page was shocking, at least to me it was. She is done playing nice and I wanted to scream because I can't wait to see what is her next move. Will she join Warner to help take down his father, will she be on her own, or will she go back to save her friends? Where is the third book? I want it now! 

At least you'll evolve from that stage.

Sorry guys for all of these gifs. I promised myself I will control my fangirling but I just couldn't resist it. Tahereh brings out so many feeling from deep inside, the ones I thought I never had. 

I'm trying control my laughter and snorting after that fantastic review written above by Zemira.
I agree with everything she said. I agree with her so much that right now I'm utterly clueless.

But Like Always,

I try.

Note: I'm trying to copy Tahareh's style of writing which I wasn't a big fan of until Destroy Me came and literally destroyed me.

This book is SO epic.

I can't even begin to explain how many times I gasped in surprise while reading this book. And gasping was always something that puzzled me. It's just that I've come across many books which has their protagonists gasping over things I can't even seem to understand why needs gasping ,because in my mind, I had no clue as to what the hell was so 'GASP' about that whole damn scenario. So naturally, when I had not one , not two but THREE gasping moments (and these are the ones I noted.) , I just had to stop reading and register that moment of triumph which occurs when you know that the author just fooled you. Or in this case, nailed you. 

I will be honest. Shatter Me wasn't the greatest book I read and it was only after reading Destroy me that I thought that I probably should give Unravel me a try. 

Sometimes, I just want to shoot myself and take my brain out and kiss it until I die. 

Gross, I know. But who cares? Whatever triggered my actions to actually order the book and read it is something I'll forever be indebted to.

And also. Warner is unmistakably the finest piece of YA awesomeness I've come across in a long , long time. Sorry badass protags of YA, but this guy just beat all your asses  for the top spot. 

I'm usually blown by books that are what their prequels could never be. I'm sorry, but in this case, Unravel Me annihilated Shatter Me. My experience of reading Unravel Me was almost like me sitting in a theatre and watching a movie.

So let's go step by step shall we? And I promise you , that there are no spoilers.

So I crack open the book and start reading it. Which is like me sitting in a theatre when the movie starts and all the lights go off. The first half is interesting but the characters are making you gag of uselessness. You hate the main girl and you hate the main guy. You just hate hate hate. And you know that THIS is going to be a disaster.It's just because of that one character (Kenji.) who's so awesome that you could just fall in love with again and again that you continue to have hope. And just before the first half is going to end..BOOM! You read or er, see something that totally wakes you up and you're like 'Oh Oh Oh OMG. WHAT WAS THAT. So cool.' and then suddenly...

Intermission.

Now you know that things are going to be Badass with a capital 'B'.

So you arm yourselves with popcorns and drinks and dive headfirst into the movie. Or in my case, the book. 

You're on the second half now and it's like..it's like you're in a different world. The girl is changing. And you can see the damn change. She is evolving! The story is evolving! Everything is evolving and then there are those moments I  mentioned before, GASP! So many GASP moments. And you're dead and floating in heaven.

And then the thing ends. AND YOU NEED THE NEXT BOOK RIGHT NOW.

But there's that thing for now.

That satisfaction. That smile. That THING. 

There is so much change. Even Tahareh's writing seems to have evolved and grown. It's all such a beautiful mess and I'm afraid I'm going to cry happy tears. 

And the love triangle?

I will Shatter, Destory and Unravel anything that doesn't let Warner and KENJI! have his happy ending. 

While we all know about Juliette , Warner and Adam, I personally felt that this book was all about Kenji. He owned this one. More than anyone, he was the one who intrigued me and I just knew that this guy was going to do wonders! And wonders? My heart needs to be in the damn ICU.

Some want Warner.

Some want Adam. (Pfft..who am I kidding? NOBODY wants Adam.)

BUT.

I

want

KENJI.

Give me this guy. Please..Please.

There were these other characters as well who did an amazing job but right now I can't think straight because my mind is consumed with Kenji and Warner. (Sorry Kenji, but the blonde god is badass.)

The thing is you need to read this book. I don't care if you didn't like Shatter Me but you need to read this book. YOU NEED TO.  Plus, you get to know what Warner's first name is. I'm sure you want to know THAT , don't you?
IF you're a person whose already read it. Please ignore what I just said above. I'm not always that violent.

And did I tell you that Juliette and I are on their way to become best buds?

Yes. Even I can't believe how warped up my brain is.

SO MUCH TRANSFORMATION.

I love you so much dear book.

Okay insanity over. Bye.

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date: February 12th 2013
My rating: 3 stars

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.
The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price—now that she has more to lose than ever.

There are ups and downs with Lauren DeStefano. The ups are twisted world building with a slow pace which I usually hate but she makes it work and the down is that I don't know to say about Fever. It's like the whole book was wrapped in a mist and you can't see right. The same thing happened with Wither. 

Fever was mainly about freedom. What would we do to be free? What does it mean to be free? We follow Rhine and Gabriel after they escaped from her Vaughn, Linden and imprisonment only to be chained by so many other things in the real world. Rhine has changed a lot, but she often thinks about how her life would be if she remained in the mansion every time things get unbearable. She is determined to find her brother even though it seems impossible in the world without cellphones or the Internet. I'm actually not sure if there are such things but there weren't any phones so I'm gonna think that technology isn't in use anymore. However there is a lot of drug use, prostitution, kidnapping and even a rape attempt. 

There are some new characters, prostitute Lilac and her malformed daughter Maggie, the cruel madame and a kind lady( forgot her name,sorry) whose daughter was kidnapped and who's trying to make up for the lost time with trowing herself into taking care of abandoned orphans. We get to see Vaughn towards the end and get to witness his terrible experiments on girls. 

If you enjoyed reading Wither, I'm sure you'll like Fever too. It wasn't as good as Wither but it still got me to read at least hundred pages on a really busy day when I would rather sleep than read. 

Once upon a time there were two parents, two children, and a brick house with lilies in the yard. The parents died, the lilies wilted. One child disappeared. Then the other.

I was born on January 30, a minute and a half before my brother. I wish I could remember it. I wish I had a memory of that first violent shove, the shock of cold air, the sting of oxygen into new lungs. Everyone should remember being born. It doesn’t seem fair that we only remember dying.

Love unrequited is violent. He loves you so much that he's turned it into hate.

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication date: April 30th 2013.
My rating: 5 stars

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.
Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

Allie is such an awesome main character! She is not perfect and has a lot of issues with humanity vs. immortality. She's trying to save as much of her human side so she doesn't turn into a wrong kind of monster, Her feeling towards Zeke aren't gone but she also has a duty to save Kanin, who omce saved her and gave her a new start. Allie is stubborn and never gives up on her family and friends. 

Kanin! He was the main reason I decided to even read The Eternity Cure. I remember thinking how there wasn't enough Kanin in The immortal Rules. I still think that. There's never enough Kanin. He should be in every scene. Even in a shower scene. Especially then! There I go again. I promised myself I'll keep my dirty mind far away from this review. It's not working. I want Kanin in every possible position. *groans* How embarrassing. Doesn't everyone want Kanin to spill his guts out and ravish them? Yes? No? He's always so calm and quiet I just want to shake him to snap out of it. Guess his guilt is a heavy burden to carry. He's so noble, protective and righteous I can't help but swoon whenever he's around.  

Kagawa outdone herself with the Blood of Eden sequel- The Eternity Cure. I never thought I would like her book as much as I did this one. Everything was so much better. Action scenes with Allie and Jackal kicking ass, Zeke giving me John Wayne vibes, Kanin being a statuesque God, and that maniac Saren who needs to drop dead for good. Everything was amazing. 

Sorry for this long Jackal ode. I had to write it for The Eternity Cure blog tour. 

As you can tell, Jackal is a really awesome, vampire(which one isn't?), former vampire King of Chicago and Allison's older brother. Kanin turned him a couple of decades before finding Allie. Most think he is the villain in these novels but I think he is misunderstood. He is one of those anti-heros. You never know if he is telling the truth or not. He plays by his own rules and knows when is the time to strike and when to pull back. Jackal's biggest concern is Jackal. He doesn't do anything if he doesn't help him in any way. I'm still not sure why he helped Allie track down Kanin who's being torture by the so-called Psycho Vamp, Saren. Jackal calls Kanin 'old man' and doesn't show he still cares for him but he still  goes with Allie. So I would say, don't underestimate Jackal. He is not as vicious as he's trying to make us believe.

What I like most about him is his sarcasm and fearlessness. He teases Allie and Zeke when they're having a tender moment. He doesn't tolerate stupidity well so he just kills everyone that's going on his nerves, that is, if he can. Leave it to him to make all of us laugh.

The only thing that's bigger than his thirst for blood is thirst for power. There's nothing he wouldn't do to be able to rule. He's proven that when he a King of Chicago. His subjects were all ruthless killers who enjoyed watching humans fight rabids. Jackal's only weakness is he can't turn humans into vampires so his plans aren't going well, for now. But who knows, he might get his kingdom back in the third book. *whispers* I hope so.

Mini reviews: Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

I started reading this book a long time ago and the reason I didn't listed it as currently reading is that I was afraid I wouldn't like it. But it was funny and just what I need when I'm feeling down. 

It's a story about Jessica Darling who's best friend moved away and she is left alone to deal with parent, school and boy problems on her own. But fear not! She has a new group of friends she isn't really fond of and a certain mysterious bad boy, Marcus, to make it all better worse. 

What I love about this book that a lot of people can read it and actually enjoy it, not just teens. Jessica is sarcastic, loyal and funny. Basically, a person I would want to have by my side at all times. 

Marcus Flutie. Oh Marcus. Who hasn't have a Marcus in their school? He is the guy who has the brains but at the same time a filthy mouth and this whole combination makes you want to punch him and kiss him. 

“It kind of makes me wish that the worst thing that will ever happen to me would just hurry up and happen already. That way I could live the rest of my life in bliss, if only because I know how much worse things could be.” 

 Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

Second Helpings start of with the complicated relationship of Jessica and Marcus.They are now in their senior year of high school and  are worrying about college.They are not together because Jessica feels she can't trust Marcus since he 's known as a heartbreaker so she pretty much tries to ignore him the whole time. And it's not really working. 

Marcus has changed so much in the second book. Even though it was obvious he fell in love with Jess, she had her doubts. Just like everyone else, we all doubt a certain person likes us, while everyone else can see it. I don't agree with what he did- SPOILER...get her a date with his best friend..., but he thought it was the right thing to do. Oh,Marcus, even though you are so swoony, you can be totally wrong. But you can also be so right at times. Well, almost every time he shows up. 

Marcus?

Yes?

Whats your middle name?

Armstrong. Marcus Armstrong Flutie. Like Neil, the astronaut? I asked. No, he replied. Like Louie, the jazz singer?

No, he replied. Then like who?

Like me.

Book Review: Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Title:  Stealing Parker
Author:  MIranda Kenneally
File type:  paperback
Release date:  October 1st, 2012
Genre:  YA, contemporary romance, sports

Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.

Now Parker wants a new life.So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

Spoilers ahead! 

There are authors who's have great ideas and you just can't wait to get your hands on a copy and when you do, you just die because the book is everything you've dreamed of. Well, something similar does happen here. Whenever I read a Kenneally book, I yell and shake my head because the characters do the most moronic things they could think of in order to 'learn their lesson'. I swear, I yelled so much while Jordan was picking that other guy instead of seeing Sam and I wanted to slap some sense in Parker for even thinking of baseball coach/gym teacher... oh my, I forgot his name. Oops. Lemme check. Brian! (Yuck!) Why choose him over Corn Fritter, pardon Corndog or just simply Will. He is the perfect match but no, she has to go for the older guy. Why take the car when you can walk, right? So much drama, especially near the end. 

I had so many mixed feelings while reading this book. On one note I liked Parker, then I didn't, I liked the use of religion in this book but I didn't like the religious people and I absolutely hated the teacher-student relationship. And this is what I'm gonna do. I'm going to talk about myself. Haha bet you didn't expect that. Well, I do love to share way too much personal info with strangers. 

Let's just start

1. Parker's rebellion - Since Parker's mum ran away with her girlfriend, people from their church have kept their distance. Her friends talked behind her back, saying she is just like her mum, so the only thing Parker could think of is start loosing weight and kiss a lot of boys.  I understand why she did those things, because a couple of years ago I was a 17 too and people were talking all sort of nonsense about me, that I was a freak, devil worshiper and whatnot. I dealt with all of my anger pretty well. I went and cut my hair, wore a lot of insane outfits and every time I saw someone giving me the stink eye it set me of to do something more crazy. So, the only difference between me and Parker is that she chose to take it out on guys while I sort of gave the finger to the rest of the world. 

2. Religion vs. Religious people - Religion is very important in this novel. Every couple of pages Parker writes a letter to God saying how her life sucks and then burns it. Her is a quote from the book that caught my eye. Most people probably just read it and moved on when they should just stop and think about it. 

“I can talk to God while I’m walking the dog or running in the woods just the same as if I’m at church.”  

 YES! I agree with this all the way! My uncle died a couple of months ago and I was really upset so when a really religious neighbour sat next to me and started to talk some bull about going the the mosque (my parents are Muslim) I told her I forgot all Arabic prayers a long time ago and she said it's easy to learn it again  so I told her I'm just going to pray to God with my own words, not something someone else wrote (because when you say something from the heart, rather than what you memorized it's more sincere) she was watching me like I've grown another head. I also know a lot of 'religious people' who are all sweet but when you dig under the surface you see they cheat, lie, steal it just makes me sick and I can't stand those phonies. I would rather be myself with no one around me than being something I'm not and having all the friends in the world. 

3. Teacher- student relationship- *sigh* What to say about this that I haven't yelled while reading? I yelled I  Stay away from him! He is your teacher! When that didn't work out I tried with Stop cyber stalking the man! Stop chatting with him and sending texts! Even that didn't work so I because afraid Don't kiss him! Nooo! Don't! You moron! I hate you! And finally I got desperate Please, don't have sex with him! He is too old for you! Ahhhh!  I'm usually all for student-teacher relationships in books but this one just wasn't working. 

I guess I should finally give up on Miranda Kenneally books even though every time I read the blurb for her latest book I get excited. Kenneally and Kody Keplinger just don't work for me even though they write about topics which seem very interesting. 

Bloggy News

What is happening fellow YA Fanatics? Did you get any good books this week? If you did,please,link us up! 

I didn't get a lot this time. I didn't order much cause I've been broke since I spent tons of money last time. 

BOUGHT:

Naughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Any respectable blogger had already heard of these books. I got this boxed set at such a low price- it was only 16euros!!! For some reason it was 51% off on The Book Depository. Can you believe that? 

And I almost missed that amazing offer. 

These new covers looks great,don't they? I'm glad there is a little bit of color,just to shake things up. Still haven't got a chance to read them,but I will,as soon as I find the time to finally read the actual paperback. It seems that all I'm doing lately is to read kindle titles and ignore my beautiful books that smell wonderful. 

WON:

1, Falling by Jolene Perry

2. Scarlet Woods by Brooke Passmore

FOR REVIEW:

 1. 'Till World Ends by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre and Karen Duvall

2. Indigo Awakening by Jordan Dane

3. Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati

I'm not sure if I'll be reading Indigo Awakening and Dancing in the Dark but I have to know more about the world before The Immortal Rules. 

I'm currently reading a memoir even if i am and I can just feel it's going to break my heart. 2 weeks ago I've read The Sea of Tranquility and I am still stunned how great that book was. It was so great,I had to stop myself from re-reading it right after finishing it. So if there is anybody looking for something like Pushing the Limits, you've found a perfect book because this is even better than PtL. I didn't like PtL at all,but a lot of people did. Almost all of my friends. 

Once again,I'm joining 2 new reading challenges. Can't wait to start! 

The challenge is to read every single 2013 release you own. Doesn't sound so bad,since I tend to ignore books after I get them. Only paperbacks, hardcovers and ARCs count.

You can learn more about this challenge HERE. 

You can sign up for this challenge HERE. 

The goal: To read as many sequels as you can. You set your goal at whatever number works for you.

1. The challenge runs from January 1st to December 31st. 
2. Any books started before Jan. 1 will not count.
3. Any book after the first book in a series counts,even novellas. Books in the same series also count. 
4. Sign ups will be open until December 1st, 2013.
5. Add the URL of your challenge post to the linky widget. (If you'd like to wait, it's ok to use your blog URL and send your link when you get the post up)

I'm setting my goal at 10 sequels:

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

As for ongoing challenges I've managed to read 2 books out of 6 from my December reading challenge. Need to read faster!