Showing posts with label Uncategorized. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uncategorized. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2013

House of Hades Cover RELEASED


Sorry. Just had to post this/share this with someone as I was so excited. Unfortunately, Nicole isn't as big of a Percy Jackson fan as I am. This is another AMAZING cover and I can't wait for the book to come out this fall! Just helping spreading the news around. :)

*Also, here is a video of one of my favorite Youtuber who reviews books and her reaction to the cover:


Monday, April 8, 2013

A Book Blogging Confession from Nicole

Hi guys! So, somehow I managed to get through all the tests/homework/assignments I had from school and here I am, working on my abandoned book blog. It's been awhile since my last post, but me and Sarah have been infrequently posting at random times.

To keep a realistic goal, the Umbrella Dreams blog is not on a hiatus, but me and Sarah won't be posting every single day like in November/December 2012. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up high, as there's lots of things going on right now, so I can't promise a perfect scheduling of posts. However, in the summer, it will be a different story...hopefully.

Anyways, to keep you updated on everything bookish, I have some post ideas scheduled up, and I'm re-reading Unraveling because its sequel, Unbreakable is coming out this month! (need to refresh my memory after half a year) The cover of Unbreakble is so perfect!

Unbreakable (Unraveling, #2)
Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

If you haven't read Unraveling, please read it now! You seriously will not regret it!

But anyways, getting back on topic, I've recently seen a lot of these "book blogging confessions" on some people's blogs. I thought it was a really neat idea, so I decided to do one of my own. I know I usually don't share much about my personal life, so you guys probably don't have an accurate idea of what my personality is like. But hey, you'll find out in my book blogging confession.

Nicole's Book Blogging Confesssion: I only buy books that I've read and loved.

Reason: I don't finish a lot of books. I think it's because I'm really picky and every little detail bothers me, but it's pretty rare that I will actually love a book to death. I also don't want to buy books that I will hate so I tend to buy only books I've read and loved.

What about you? What are your preferences to buying a book?

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Sea Of Monsters! :3

Hello! This is kinda random but has anyone here ever heard the Percy Jackson series? Pshhh, I'm kidding. Everyone has heard of it. At least I hope they do. :\ Well anyway, in case you don't know, I am a huge lover of PJ books but the movies not so much...

I was recently just browsing around on IMDb and guess what popped up? Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters. Of course I was very interested so *click*. It was quite shocking in fact. There were quite a few reasons why and I tried listing them below. Hope you enjoy!



Its the trailer! Yay! Now I think this movie is going to be a bit better than the first movie because:
A). The plot of the movie actually kind of sounds like the book!
B). The style of the movie kind of sounds like Inception. You know, the part where its like dun... DUN... DUUUUUUNNNNN, you  know that right? Erm.. maybe its just me, hehe.

Look at the hair! They all changed! :(
Annabeth's (Alexandra Daddario) hair turned blond. I don't really mind that because her hair is actually blond in the book but then, why couldn't they have it turn blond in the first movie then?! Percy (Logan Lerman) also changed his look with a haircut. I don't know about you but his hair just turned a lot more uglier than before. Why? Of all the haircuts ;_;

The actors have changed too! Chiron from the Lightning Thief has switched along with Hermes and many characters have also been added. A new Chiron, Hermes and new characters Dionysus, Clarisse, Tyson and Chris Rodriguez have important roles. Unfortunately, Thalia still isn't included making me confused about the plot because Thalia is very important in this movie.

That's pretty much all I have to say about the new upcoming movie. I think I'll do a Movie + Book Review (like I did for I Am Number Four) for this once it comes out in August 16th. Make sure to subscribe, comment and share this with as many PJO fans as you possibly can. Pretty please? :)

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Hehe...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you pronounce a word wrong and everyone looks at you like, whaaaaat? So you say it again and then after the fifth time they understand what word you are trying to say. Hehe.... so embarrassing. Nicole and I both have experienced this. This is a quick post about it. 

Anatomy: [uh-nat-uh-mee]
1. the science dealing with the structure of animals and plants.
2. the structure of an animal or plant, or of any of its parts.
3. dissection of all or part of an animal or plant in order to study its structure.
4. a plant or animal that has been or will be dissected, or a model of such a dissected organism.
5. a skeleton. 

Yeah, I pronounced this word wrong. Its a simple word to say, but you know, I just had to pronounce it [an-uh-tom-ee]. The people I was saying it to didn't even understand what I was saying. :[ I cringe whenever I think of that word. Thanks a lot books, thank you.

 Archive: [ahr-kahyv]
1. Usually, archives. documents or records relating to the activities, business dealings, etc., of a person, family, corporation, association, community, or nation.
2. archives, a place where public records or other historical documents are kept.
3. any extensive record or collection of data: The encyclopedia is an archive of world history. The experience was sealed in the archive of her memory.
4. Digital Technology .
   a. a long-term storage device, as a disk or magnetic tape, or a computer directory or folder that   contains copies of files for backup or future reference.
   b. a collection of digital data stored in this way.
   c. a computer file containing one or more compressed files.
   d. a collection of information permanently stored on the Internet: The magazine has its entire archive online, from 1923 to the present.

Nicole said this one wrong. She was talking about the book "The Archive" or something like that when she suddenly pronounced archive wrong. I was wondering what she was talking about, and once I figured it out, I immediately corrected her. She was pronouncing it [ar-cheeve]. But she remembers how to properly say it now!


Meme: [meem]

I think we all know what a meme is. The shame about this one is that Nicole and I used the word frequently but in writing so our pronunciations were all wrong. Nicole pronounced it [mem] and I pronounced it [me-me]. And the thing about this word is that it sounds exactly like it looks so Nicole and I both have no excuses. Hehe...
 
That's it! Hoped you like this really quick post!
 
 

Friday, February 15, 2013

Um...

This post is going to be a bit random and will be a special 1-time thing but I hope you'll enjoy reading this. By the way, most of my uncategorized posts will have some weird mumble-words as the title -in case you haven't noticed-. Here is the really random post:

Random Books With The Same Author Names As Us!


Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 
Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of. 
For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.



If you didn't guess yet, this is Nicole's same-author-name book (last names are different). Anyway, this book popped up on Goodreads and this was where I got my fabulous idea for a random post. This book looks pretty interesting even though its not Nicole's or my type of book.


a long, hot summer...That's what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy's father. But sometimes unexpected things can happen—things such as the catering job at Wish, with its fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister's project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a boy with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl's world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to wonder, Is it really better to be safe than sorry?




I'm sure you have heard of this author at least once. Sarah Dessen is a very famous author and although I will never read one of her books, I'm sure there is a reason why she is famous. 

That's it to the super short post! Hope you enjoyed. :)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Blog Makeover

So, if you've been with Umbrella Dreams for awhile, you would notice that we have been through a big change! Before, our blog template was completely different. Now, things are located in different places, because Sarah and I have both decided to update some things.

Today, I'll be giving you guys a tour of the new blog.


The above picture is of our old blog template. Since I'm not the best at giving tours, I'll try the best I can to explain our new one.

New Things in Our Blog Templates

  • Updated Header (you can now read our blog title better)
  • Updated "About Us" Page (our "about us" page reflects us better now)
  • Updated Information Page (much easier to read; provides accurate info)
  • New "Contact Us" on sidebar (you can find us in other websites now)
  • Cleaner, easier to read posts
  • Awesome background
  • Get our new blog button!

 

Fun Stuff to Look Out For

  • "Popular Post" tab at the bottom of the page (check out which posts that people like the most)
  • Labels! Hover your mouse over it and see what happens!
  • New better designed posts

Feel free to get our blog button through the link! Our blog posts will now become more organized and convenient for you to read.

I hope you like the blog makeover! (:

Thursday, February 7, 2013

WHOA!

I am in a state of excitement and also feeling pretty idiotic. I have JUST realized that the books I have been waiting for months have come out. I'm so excited to get my hands on them! Here are just a few I am super excited for:

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.
It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.
But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?
In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.


I can't believe I forgot about this book coming out! This is the sequel to Legend by Marie Lu. Gosh, that was one of my most favorite books! I recommended it to all of my friends and become obsessed over Prodigy for a short while. What's saddening is that since I forgot about this book coming out, I couldn't put my hold in the library as early as I hoped. :\


Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.
Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.
Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.
In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love.
 
 Nicole and I have both been waiting for this book to come out. Let me tell you this: I am not looking forward to the romance. I am hoping that there is going to be more action in this book.  Since sequels are usually not as good as the original, I have high expectations for this book but do no expect it to be as good as the first.

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.
Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.
Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.
Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.
In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.
Nicole and I have been waiting for this one to come out. Since this is the first book in a series, I have no idea how this book will turn out to be. I'm hoping for another awesome book because I haven't read any good books lately.
An exotic treat set in an entirely original, fantastical world brimming with deadly mystery, forbidden romance, and heart-stopping adventure.
Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.
Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.
The City Of Dolls- such a dramatic name. I hope it actually has to do with the story. Honestly, I just found out about this book a few minutes ago. I was just browsing through Goodreads and this book reminded me of something. It looks interesting enough and I hope to read it soon!

 Jess has a secret: a mysterious glass flask she finds in an heirloom desk's hidden compartment. Its surface swirls with iridescent colors, like something's inside, something almost like a song, something with a soul. No one else sees anything under the shifting glass, but Jess is convinced there must be some kind of magic in there. And when her twin brothers are born critically ill, Jess begins to believe that the force within the flask just might hold the key to saving her brothers-and her family. In this emotionally rich novel, award-winning author Nicky Singer crafts a world of possibility that is steeped in hope and the power of love.




This is another book that I have just discovered from Goodreads. It looks interesting enough. The cover is very interesting but gives away a bit too much. I think I already know how its going to end. :\

Monday, February 4, 2013

New Template Coming Soon!

Hello guys! As you probably know, Nicole and I have been looking at templates for a really long time. We've had over a total of 3-4 temporary templates and the current sandy/brown theme isn't really working for us. We both quickly got tired of it so Nicole has been making a template (the reason why she hasn't posted for a couple of days). As for me, I have been kind of... designing it? Nicole is doing the real work with the codes and finding the pictures. I've been giving my opinions about it.

We are both REALLY excited about our template. Its coming out on Saturday because we haven't given it the finishing touches yet. Here is a hint for our new template!



 Ta-Da! Its our color palette. Honestly, we don't even have a reason to show you guys this. Nicole just made one for fun and wanted to show it off to you guys~

Let me just say: I'm really thankful to Nicole for spending so much time procrastinating on the new template. I was really surprised when I looked at it a few minutes ago and realized just how awesome it is. That is why we are going to start using it in April! Mwahahaha, just kidding :)

All credit for the template goes to Nicole! :)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

New Book Blogging "Theme"

Hello guys!

If you have been with us for a while, you would know that we used to do "ranks", but now we have some reasons to quit using them and start a new idea/theme that we are super excited to introduce to you. Nicole is a big-time Goodreads user and loves to post her reviews to Goodreads as well as our blog. Unfortunately, reviewing on Goodreads is hard to do when they don't let you color-code (OCD issues) and change text size so Nicole was the first to stop that. I however have COMPLETELY different reasons why I can't do ranks.

I have decided to try out a new technique for our blog. There are many different book blogs out there and I have been thinking a lot about how since Nicole and I don't have enough time to make it as fantastic as we wish it would be. SOO, to make our blog more special than all the other ones I have devised a different type of book reviews:

1). The Usual
This is the average book review where we'll give some likes/dislikes. Like the previous reviews, we'll do a quick "Final Rank" and will do a brief summary of why.

2). Book+Movie
Nicole and I both love movies and we often try to watch some interesting movies together. Nicole thought up of having a review about the book as well as a short review of the movie version, comparing it to the book and which one we thought was better.

3). Review+Journal
I was super excited when I thought of this one. I'm going to do a short/brief journal in the beginning of the review to show my reaction. I will only do reactions because I don't want to spoil anything for you guys. I'll do page numbers of where I stopped/got reaction and will record a short bit of information on my reaction.

4). Comparing
Nicole or I will be comparing two books that we find similar and basically just compare them. We'll do a "showdown" and the book that wins will get... better reviews? 

That's all me and Nicole have thought of so far and this is also on our "Book Review" tab where you can get some information about the memes and etc. We'll update it when we get new ideas for different type of book reviews. Feel free to use our ideas and comment if you think of a new type of book review! Remember to Subscribe as well!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Some Quick Stuff We Want To Say

Okay, so me and Nicole haven't been working that hard on our blog lately but it is because we have suddenly been flooded with homework from our evil teachers (and also because Winter Break is coming soon). We've also been in a bad mood because our template is frustrating. The fonts won't work, the pictures are weird and it just gives makes us annoyed whenever we look at it. Expect some template changing and weird fonts. In order to get more organized, we WILL find a template that is perfect and Nicole and I WILL work hard to make our blog better and perfected. Thanks for your patience with us amateur bloggers!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Goals

Since this is a new blog, we are still learning a lot. There are things called "memes" that we need to worry about and book reviews that have deadlines. Here are some goals that are hopefully accomplished as this blog soon progresses.

- Have 100 posts.

- Have 100+ subscribers. We understand that this one is going to take a while. Because me and Nicole are still learning, our blog isn't that great yet. Therefore, we don't get many comments/subscribers/readers.  Hopefully, you can help us out by subscribing! All you have to do is click some buttons.

-Read 50 books by the end of December. All I have to do is read 25 books and Nicole will read 25 books.

-Review all 50 books. Most reviews will probably be posted somewhere in Janruary/February. But who knows? Maybe with patience, me and Nicole can post one review each day!

-Find a permanent template that we can stick to. The best thing about a blog is the templates to play around with. Right now, we are currently changing it, so don't be surprised if you find some random things here and there.

-Get 100 comments from you guys. You don't even have to write much; each reply (no matter how short) helps Umbrella Dreams become better.

-Fill out the A-Z. In the book reviews page, we'll try to cover all the book titles coming from a to z.

-Have a permanent schedule. We want a schedule that we can stick to, isn't too complicated, and isn't too little for you guys to read.

You can actually help us with most goals! The readers, besides books, are what keeps this blog running! By 2014 (rough estimate), we'll hopefully have a great blog with heavy subscribers, a lot more book reviews, and a bunch of new things for you to explore. Subscribe and be happy!


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

What's This?!

We are Umbrella Dreams, and we'll be doing a book blog from two points of views.

There is Sarah, who is the more ninja one. She likes adventure and action books.

There is also Nicole, known as the prof. (short for professor), due to her style of writing and interest in science fiction.

To learn more about us, check our "About Us" page.

We hope you enjoy our posts! Our current schedule is around 4 to 6 posts a week! More details will follow soon!