A Lot Can Happen In A Month [Jan + Feb + March 2013]

Welcome to the third monthly recap of Sarah and Nicole's book blog. It's now February 2013! Can you believe how time flies!? We are sorry that we missed out on the January Monthly Recap. To make up for it, this is a special edition of the monthly meme, featuring two months -- both January and February.

Book Reviews

Surviving Antartica Reality TV 2083 (Reviewed by Sarah; for full review, click here)

This book was kind of an ehhhh. This book was entertaining because it provided me with an idea of what the future would/might look like in 2083. What I like a lot is how they actually give a specific year. Most dystopian books are like: Oh, its happening somewhere in the future. But I am just like: BUT WHEN. 

This book was really interesting, but I wish there was more action. And it lasted longer. The people were in Antarctica for quite a while, but they didn't even make it to the first safe zone.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Reviewed by Sarah; for full review, click here)

This book deserves a five. In fact, I think it should go into the Hall of Fame but there was just something about the book that stops me from allowing it into the super awesome page. Maybe it was the darn cliffhanger.

Ten (Reviewed by Nicole; for full review, click here)

To get straight to the point, Meg was a pretty weak character. I didn't feel much sympathy for her even though the author tried to make her this sweet, understanding girl. She seemed more like a Mary Sue to me. Why? Well, she's in love with her best friend's crush but she's so loyal and kind that she's staying away from him. Her best friend also has issues, but Meg is also kind and understanding enough to forgive said best friend. Even though her best friend (Minnie) is absolutely nuts and I cannot stand that girl, Meg is apparently perfect/kind/awesome like that.

Under the Never Sky (Reviewed by Nicole; for full review, click here)

In most books I've read, the girl falls for the guy before they even get to know each other. But thankfully, that wasn't the case in this book. The romance actually turned out to be pretty good. I liked how it wasn't even romance at first, and that it started out as friendship between Aria and Perry. They had no reason to fall for each other at first sight because of their different backgrounds, so it hadn't happened. The romance made sense. They didn't fall head over heels for each other because of their looks either --- there was none of that. Their romance gradually transitioned and I enjoyed reading about it. 

*Because of space limitations, other reviews are linked but without a blurb of the official review.

Firelight
Delirium
Unwind
Hourglass
Room
Nightshade
I am Number Four
The Angel Experiment

A Quick Note from Nicole

Okay, so I know it isn't the end of the month yet, but I felt like this had to be posted ASAP because this monthly meme includes January, which is about 2 months ago. So yes, because of school, Sarah and I haven't been posting, but we are [somewhat] officially back. The past few weeks have been beyond stressful with too many tests at school and they aren't over yet. However, Sarah and I will try our best to keep posting. Also, it's Spring Break! (which explains my sudden appearance on our blog) 

Posts might still be delayed though, but they will at least show up sometime starting tomorrow.

That's it for this quick post!

A Lot Can Happen In A Month [Dec 2012]

A Word from Nicole: Happy New Year's Eve! I'm proud to announce that this is the second month of book blogging me and Sarah has been through. I know she hasn't been posting a lot lately (I'm probably making you fall asleep with my lengthy posts) but she'll be back soon! I just find it slightly funny that we both just depend on the other to write the blog for a certain amount of time, then switch, and repeat. Anyways, let's start the recap for the month of December of 2012!

BOOK REVIEWS:

1. Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Its so darn AVERAGE. I finally found the word for this story. Its average. The speed is average, the action/adventure is average, and the romance is average-ish. Its not bad, but its not good enough to be called good. I guess its a good story, but its not worth saying its the best. The speed is, guess what, average. Its not slow enough to bore me enough to make me stop reading, but its not fast enough to make me read and make me wonder what will happen next. As I was reading this, I kept looking up occasionally, just because it came to a particularly boring part. (Quote taken from the Glitch book review. Click here to read the full review)

2. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

To be honest, the ending killed me. I'll try not to spoil much but it did get tears in my eyes. It was the type of ending that you get in real life, but that didn't stop my sympathy. This ending will move your heart. (Quote taken from the Second Chance Summer book review. Click here to read the full review)

3. Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

The plot was a pretty good idea. The perspective was pretty good too. The perspective was from a girl, Mac, and honestly, I find her annoying, but the perspective itself was fine. The storytelling was okay, I guess. I just wish it would be more vivid. It kind of felt like a blur, and a good way to put this as an example is when in a movie, they focus on one thing only, and everything surrounding it is a blur. Thats kind of how I felt like during the book. (Quote taken from the Hemlock book review. Click here to read the full review)

4. Everneath by Brodi Ashton

This was surprisingly fast. At least in my head. This was one of those stories where I couldn't stop reading because I was deep into the book. Everneath was one of those rare stories that I can't put down and read until midnight. I absolutely loved how it was fast-paced even though there wasn't action on every corner. (Quote taken from the Everneath book review. Click here to read the full review)

The pink titles are reviews written by Nicole. The blue titles are reviews written by Sarah.

MEMES:

Because of the holidays, Sarah and Nicole did not post a lot of memes. As a result of this, there was only one "In My Mailbox" post (hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren) and zero "Waiting on Wednesday" posts (hosted by Jill at the Breaking Spine).

Standing in place for the lack of meme posts, Sarah and Nicole made a few BATCH posts. Being A Thursday Cover Hoard posts are listed below along with the one "In My Mailbox" post. Enjoy!

12/3/12 -- In My Mailbox (4)
12/6/12 -- BATCH (2) features Breathe by Sarah Crossan
12/13/12 -- BATCH (3) features Everneath, Maximum Ride, Of Poseidon, and Under the Never Sky
12/21/12 -- BATCH (4) features North of Beautiful by Justina Headley Chen

OTHER POSTS:

Below are posts about books. They are loosely related, so they are put together in this section to let you read them.

Click here to read about the best books of 2012.

Click here to read about upcoming books in 2013 that Nicole is looking forward to.

HALL OF FAME:

Hall of Fame is a collection of amazing books discovered by Nicole and Sarah.

This month, one book has made it to the Hall of Fame again. This book is...

Everneath by Brodi Ashton! Click here for a link to Sarah's 5 star review! Nicole has also read this book and she highly recommends it if you haven't read it already!

MONTHLY FEATURE:

Like the last time, monthly features are usually kept a secret until you click on the link. So here's the link! Click here!

UPCOMING BOOK REVIEWS:

The exact review dates are still unknown at this point but beware: On the first week of January, Umbrella Dreams will start off the new year with 3 book reviews (there might be more). Some of them include the books up there, but there could be some surprises...

A FINAL WORD...

Thank you for sticking with Umbrella Dreams for another month! It's been a great two months book blogging and we hope you continue with us to the journey of books. Don't forget to subscribe and follow!(:  



This image belongs to Chibird of chibird.tumblr.com.



Have a happy new year! 2013, here we come!

A Lot Can Happen In A Month [Nov 2012]

So it's official! Me and Sarah have been book blogging for one whole month now! To celebrate this, I've created a new monthly post (you can call it a meme, I guess) to recap everything we've done so far. In the future, this post will come at the last day of every month, restating what happened over the course of that month.

And if you're a regular at our blog, take a look of what posts you missed but would be interested in! If you're new to our blog, feel free to stalk around and click on these colorful links.

Now, let's start this recap!

Book Reviews:

1. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

This book takes the word "romance" differently than most YA stories. In Something Strange and Deadly, Eleanor Fitt doesn't fall in love with Daniel right away. Daniel doesn't fall in love with Eleanor at first sight either. In fact, he was pretty annoyed when he met her, as he made assumptions about her being some rich snob. But as the Dead became more consistent, they had no choice but to see each other again. They had to work together, along with Jie and Joseph (fantastic characters, by the way) to stop the zombies.

2. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling is a refreshing sci-fi book to read. It's hard to find this type of genre in the YA world, so you could literally see me jumping up and down when I read quantum physics there. Thankfully, Elizabeth Norris has written this in a way so non-quantum physics people would understand this too. YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK NOW! It's so wonderful and amazing; not to mention, very unique. (Quote taken from Unraveling book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

3. The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

When I first read the summary, I expected something like Uglies by Scott Westerfield.  A girl who ends up in the wild, looking to find her true self. But as I read the beginning, I discover it's a lot like Divergent by Veronica Roth. There's a test..involving a serum...taken when you were in the 16 year old range..supported by the government. But that's where the similarities with Divergent ends. After that, Alenna gets into The Wheel and I find similarities with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The Blue Sector, where Alenna's tribe is, is set into a forest-like place, which I imagine is like The Hunger Games's setting. There is also fighting and death, likewise in The Hunger Games. But then, more of the story passes, and I find out that The Forsaken is getting more unique...until the last few pages of it. There is an explanation of what happened to the start of The Wheel and why it's there. And I won't spoil it, but then it became Divergent by Veronica Roth and I found myself cringing at how the reason of the Wheel is similar to Divergent. (Quote taken from The Forsaken book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

4. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

The perspective is in 2 points of views: Emma and Galen. Emma is in first person while Galen is in third and I feel like that really wasn't necessary. That part bothered me quite a bit, but its not enough to make me write a RANT about it. The plot however was actually a pretty good one though I feel like the storytelling of it could have been better. The idea of mermaids and the origin of gifts was a fantastic idea to write a book about but to be honest, the author could have wrote it better. And if any new author writes the same story, no matter how good the storytelling is, it would be considered cliche. I'm a bit disappointed in the perspective and storytelling but the main idea of the story was pretty good. (Quote taken from the Of Poseidon book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review.

5. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

This is a pretty good book. It's entertaining and you will probably like it. The only thing was:  this book wasn't really my style and it kind of deceives you in the summary. There wasn't enough action. I also thought it dragged a little bit. But overall, it is still a decent book. If you're ever bored and looking for entertainment you might want to read it. (Quote taken from the Graceling book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

6. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a great character with a funny sense of humor. The plot is excellent. The end doesn't end in a cliffhanger. This is a perfect book for people who love their adventure and action book. This is a mind-blowingly epic book, and I definitely recommend it. (Quote taken from The Lighning Thief book review on Umbrella Dreams. Click here to read the full review)

As usual, the blue titles are Sarah's reviews and the pinks are mine. Feel free to roam around those book reviews and plot what to read next!

Memes:

Memes are a big part of Umbrella Dreams. We want to thank Jill (Breaking Spine) for her awesome WoW memes and Kristi (The Story Siren) for her IMM posts.

Here are a collection of meme posts for you to enjoy:

11/13/12 -- In My Mailbox (1)

11/14/12 -- Waiting on Wednesday (1)

11/19/12 -- In My Mailbox (2)

11/22/12 -- Batch (1)

11/24/12 -- Random (1)

11/26/12 -- In My Mailbox (3)

11/28/12 -- Waiting on Wednesday(2)

To find out more about BATCH and RANDOM, please click on the individual links. For now, here's a short explanation:

BATCH is created by Sarah. The goal of BATCH is to let blog readers know about these four things: 

1. Book covers that we like
2. Beautiful book covers but horrible story
3. Not-so-beautiful book cover but beautiful story
4. Anything random that has to do with book covers

If you're a Being A Thursday Cover Hoard, then BATCH is for you.

If covers aren't your thing, check out RANDOM, Rhetorically Asked Not Discussed On Memes. That is a meme created to answer questions about the publishing industry/publishing company/YA books and etc.

For this month, BATCH is featuring Starcrossed. Click here to learn more about this book.

Also for this month, RANDOM is featuring the question: How much do authors make? Click here to learn more about this inquiry.

Rants:

Rants are usually written by Nicole. This month, she has written two rants for book bloggers to read. Check out below to get to those posts.

Rant #1: Love Triangles

Rant #2: Dystopian Cliches

I hope you enjoyed those rants.(:

Hall of Fame:

Hallf of Fame is a collection of amazing books Sarah and Nicole have read.

This month, one book has made it to the Hall of Fame! Congratulations to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

For a link to Sarah's 5 star review, click here.

Monthly Feature:

For this month, Nicole and Sarah want to feature this post. Nicole won't explain much of it on here, so click the button to find out the surprise!

Upcoming Book Reviews:

And now, lastly, Nicole want to share what books will soon be reviewed soon. To keep things fun, the review dates are still a mystery. However, if you catch a book you like, stay tuned for the review! It should be up shortly!

A Final Word...

Thank you so much for reading this post. Sarah and Nicole both can't believe it's been a month of book blogging already. So far, they are really enjoying this. Hopefully in the future, their blog will expand to be something even greater.

P.S

We have one very special Holiday post. They are very short and contain a thank you and a Happy Holiday. Here it is: Happy Thanksgiving!