In My Mailbox

This is the first In My Mailbox, for this blog. If you don't know much about it, The Story Siren does a fantastic description!

So today, I came in from school and noticed I had a box from USPS. It was my College Algebra book that I ordered on January 4, 2011 (this past Tuesday). Not that a college math book is totally interesting, but I thought it would be great considering the place that I ordered it from to try and give it exposure.

The place I ordered the book from is called AbeBooks. Any college student knows that books are expensive if you buy them from the bookstore, so like I do for everything else, I looked online. Amazon and eBay are my go-to places for online shopping, but they didn't have the book cheap enough. The book is $158 retail, and online at Amazon and eBay they were only about twenty dollars cheaper. I'm always seeking a better deal, so I Googled the ISBN.

I stumbled upon a link, which happened to be AbeBooks. The book was the exact one I needed and brand new for only $19.00. Standard shipping was $4.80 while Priority was $9.00. I hit the motherload with this deal. At first I didn't think it was legit, and since you can only pay by credit card (the only downside to the site; I tried paying with my debit card but it was declined) I looked up to see if there were other users who had used it before with positive results. Luckily, there were good opinions about it. So of course I bought that book with Priority shipping because I needed it by the end of this week for the class.

Despite my skepticism, the book was in the mail today. I was ecstatic. The first reason being that I got it so cheap, the second reason being I got it so fast (three days!), and the third being that this site is completely legit. So now my mission is to give exposure to them and let people know it really works and their prices are legit.

Check out the photos of the book and the thank you note the seller sent me in the package. The thank you note had a pack of Smartees attached to it. I thought that was a pretty nice little extra.

Here's the link for anyone interested: http://www.abebooks.com/

Passion Cover Revealed!

As you guys have probably noticed, I've am a fan of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. The first book in the series is Fallen and the second is Torment (Fallen). The third book is going to be called Passion. It will be up for grabs on June 14, 2011. The cover of this book has finally been unveiled!! YAY!

Drum Roll.......................................

I absolutely LOVE the covers in this series! They are so gorgeous and breathtaking. I love the big bolds of color here and there. Gosh so excited!! Anyone else thinks this cover is very lovely?! 

Teaser Tuesday! (1)

Hi guys and of course chicks! I haven't done a Teaser Tuesday in a couple of weeks. Being the holidays and all, I never had any time! >.< Hopefully I get back in the groove of things!
Teaser Tuesday was created by MizB at Should Be Reading. 
It's actually really fun to do. A lot of blogs are starting to do it now. It's a fun way to see what our fellow bloggers are reading and get a little teaser of the book and see if we would be interested in reading it too! Anyone can do Teaser Tuesdays! 


Teaser:
"I think we should try it. One step at a time," I said. "If it sucks, we'll separate and wait until the order is given in October."

Author: Andrea Cremer

Title: Nightshade: Book 1

Kleptomania At School [Nonfiction]

I have a story that actually happened this week to a beloved teacher at my learning establishment. It deals with theft, which I'm sure happens quite often at school as well as in the real world, but this is the first time it has hit so close to home, err, school.

I'm sitting in second period as usual reading a fantastic book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook, The Accidental Billionaires. It is very eye opening in that I never expected something as renowned as Facebook to have come from such a mess of roots. But all things have their low points I suppose. Getting on with the story, I'm sitting in the back office of a classroom reading because I'm in "Accounting 2"--I say this because I'm technically enrolled, but I don't do any accounting at all, I'm more of a teacher's aide. A student comes into the office asking if he can borrow a flash drive from the teacher so he can put something on it for Hallmark (he is a self-proclaimed poet) and I assume he's going to send some of his work to them.

She tells him the flash drive is in the drawer of her desk--the one in her classroom and not the one she is currently occupying in her office--so he leaves and I assume he goes to retrieve it. I think nothing of this and get back to reading about the "socially autistic" Mark in my book.

The next day, I come into second period and hear the teacher talking to another student about her iPhone being stolen. I'm in the back office while she's talking to the student in the classroom and I move closer to hear the conversation. I'm shocked the learn the details about her precious iPhone (which she's had for only a few months) was stolen; however, she got it back...in a much worse condition.

She began to tell me all the details: she had put her iPhone in the drawer of her desk in the classroom for the first time because her husband was on the road and if he broke down, needed help, et cetera, she wanted him to be able to reach her. Said flash drive from two paragraphs ago was in the same drawer with her phone. So you can only imagine the thoughts going through that kid's head when he saw a shiny, new iPhone ripe for the taking.

The teacher didn't check the drawer until two periods later to find out her phone was missing. After a moment of disgust and anger, she knew exactly who had taken it. She made her way to the office, where she found no administrators (I mean of course, right) so she proceeded to the school resource officer's room. After much deliberation and a name misinterpretation, the phone was seized and the student was apprehended.

The teacher was beyond pissed. She came back to her room after being reunited with her beloved iPhone and began to realize that all of her information was gone. The phone was barren: her contacts had been erased, her email accounts had been deleted, her case that was installed was removed, her SIM card had been discarded, her photos, music, and all media were gone. G-O-N-E, gone.

A group of students in her classroom overheard her plight and said that the student involved was notorious for stealing things, especially cell phones at school. If there was a cell phone to be had, there was a cell phone to be missing. The students also gave her some unsettling news: the student had been showing off the phone all throughout the day, and they knew exactly where he had discarded the case and SIM card.

She went on a hunt for the missing items that could be replaced and found them exactly where the group of students said the items would be. Everything on the SIM card had been erased and the coup de grâce was that the card was broken in half. The SIM card was taped back together and put back into the phone, but it still wouldn't work. She had never backed up her phone via iTunes, so she lost EVERYTHING.

All of her contacts were officially gone and she didn't know how they would all be replaced. Malice probably couldn't even describe how she felt at this point, but it's the only word that comes to mind.

After being searched, the officer found more phones on his person, which were taken and bagged. The student was suspended for only five days and the teacher said she wanted him out of her class.

It has been two days now, and nothing has changed. She hasn't gotten her contacts back or even a new SIM card, but the only thing she can do is move on, much like any person would do in a tragedy. Even though this was just a phone, it was her source of communication and it shows just how much we rely on our phones now. Maybe it means we shouldn't put all of our faith in them, because things can obviously happen, or maybe it means we should just be more careful, but with any situation there's always a lesson to be learned or a point to be made.

Maybe something good can come out of something bad.

A New Year's Revolution Giveaway!!

2010 had a lot of great books published! I think 2011 is probably gonna be better! Ah I can't wait! Candace from http://www.candacesbookblog.com, Lori from http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/, and Angela from http://www.readingangel.com/ are the one's hosting this big blog hop giveaway!

This blog hop last from Jan. 3 12:01 AM- Jan. 9 11:59 PM.

US only. Sorry International people maybe next giveaway...

On this blog you will have a choice between an ARC of Personal Demons, the book Crank, or the book Book of Shadows (Sweep, No. 1). These books are both in very good shape. Sweep is brand new, Crank hasn't even been read and Personal Demons has only been read once, by me.

ARC of Personal Demons

 Sweep (Book 1)

 Crank

Requirements:

You don't have to be a follower, but if will be greatly appreciated! 

My 1st blogoversary is coming up and the more followers I have the more things I will give away! 

The only requirements are for you to leave a comment with your email and live in the US. 

I'll will contact the winner by email and the winner will have 48 hours to respond 

or I will pick another winner.

Good luck to everyone!

Drive-By Review: Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Hello everybody and Happy New Year to you all!

So this morning after sleeping off the New Year's hangover (kidding, I don't drink) I set a goal to finish one of the books I borrowed from the library; not a New Year's Resolution but merely a daily goal I set for myself. I read from the second chapter to the end in one sitting so I was pretty proud of myself considering it only took a few hours.

The book I read was Hot Six by Janet Evanovich, which is the sixth book in the notorious Stephanie Plum series that is still being written today (the most recent is Sizzling Sixteen, which you guessed it: is the sixteenth book in the series).

Because I like to ramble and because I read so many books, I don't actually have time to do a full review of each and every book I read, so I'm going to start doing "drive-by reviews"; however, on occasion I might do a full-blown review on a book if it was just that amazing. Now this book was good but this series is a pretty easy read (considering it took a few hours to read), but "easy read" does not hold a negative connotation by any means.

In these "drive-bys" I will give an excerpt from the first chapter, a couple of sentences on my opinion of the book, and my favorite part(s) of the book. So here goes:

Excerpt: "Truth is, I didn't for a minute think she'd jump. For one thing, she was wearing a four-hundred-dollar jacket from Wilson Leather. You just don't jump off a bridge in a four-hundred-dollar jacket. It isn't done. The jacket would get ruined. Carol was from the Chambersburg section of Trenton, just like me, and in the Burg you gave the jacket to your sister, then you jumped off the bridge."

Favorite parts:

#1 "Munson knocked the two of us aside and streaked down the stairs. He ran the length of the house and out the back door. I was close behind, and Lula was about ten feet behind me. His foot had to be killing him, but he ran flat out through two yards and then cut off to the alley. I took a flying leap and caught him square in the small of his back. The two of us went down to the ground and rolled around, locked together, swearing and clawing. Munson was trying to scramble away, and I was trying to hang on and cuff him. It would have been easier if he'd had clothes to grab hold of. As it was, I didn't really want to grab what was available.

"Hit him where it hurts!" Lula was yelling. "Hit him where it hurts!"

So I did. A person reaches a point where she just doesn't want to roll around anymore. I hauled back and gave Munson a knee in the gonads.

"Ulk," Munson said, and assumed the fetal position.

Lula and I pried his hands away from Mr. Sad Sack and cuffed him behind his back.

"Wish I had a movie of you wrestlin' with this guy," Lula said. "It reminded me of that joke about the midget at the nudist colony who kept sticking his nose in everyone's business."

Mitchell and Habib had gotten out of their car and were standing a few feet away looking pained.

"I could feel that all the way over here. If we get the word that we have to rough you up, I'm wearing a cup." Mitchell said.

#2 "It's his legs," Lula said. "They froze up in a seated position." She pulled a lawn chair off a stack at the back of the garage and set the chair next to the dead guy. "If we put him in a chair he'll look more natural, like he was waiting for a ride or something."

So we picked him up, set him into the chair, and backed away to take a look. Only, when we backed away, he fell out of the chair. Smash, right on his face.

"Good thing he's dead," Lula said, "or that would have hurt like the devil."

We heaved him back into the chair and this time we wrapped a bungee cord around him. His nose was a little smashed and one eye had been jarred closed from the impact when he fell, so one was open and one was closed, but aside from that he looked okay. We backed away again, and he stayed in place.

#3 "Amen," Lula said, and she made the sign of the cross.

"I thought you were Baptist?"

"Yeah, but we don't got any hand signals for occasions like this."

This book, like all in the series, is hilarious and even though they all have the same basis with Stephanie running around getting into shenanigans, they are quick reads and will provide entertainment so don't hesitate to read any of them. The first one was published in 1994 and she's written one a year since then. I will be moving onto the seventh book eventually and I look forward to the next "chapter" in Stephanie's life.

Challenges!!

I was just sitting here thinking, "hmmm what could make this year more fun than the last?" Then I thought about a challenge!! I'm going to do being two. The 2011 Debut Author challenge and my own challenge of 30 Books in 365 Days. Hopefully I'll be able to accomplish these tasks, while still maintaining good grades, keeping up with my blog and the blog world, also graduating high school!
Now the 2011 Debut Author Challenge is hosted by The Story Siren. (cool name by the way) The challenge consist of reading a minimum of 12 YA/MG books. The authors of these books must be making their debut with publication in 2011. This challenge begins on Jan. 1, 2011, which is today in fact so Happy New Years! It ends on Dec. 31, 2011. If you would like more info on this challenge or would like to join click HERE.
I already have 4 of the books pick out for this. They are:
For January- Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
For February- A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
For March- Clarity by Kim Harrington
For April- Enclave by Ann Aguirre
When I get the rest picked out I'll make a new post with all of them.

Finally 30 Books in 365 Days is my own challenge. I want to try my best to read 30 books before this year is over. My first book is going to be Nightshade: Book 1. Now this challenge it doesn't matter when the books are published or anything, just as long as I read them in 2011.