Top Ten Tuesday: Books/Movies To Read Or Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week's topics is about stories that get us in the Halloween spirit

I loooove Halloween, even though we don't celebrate it here! I've always loved spooky and creepy things (I read my first vampire book when I was 8 and my favorite stories were about ghosts and witches), so here are 5 books and 5 movies to get you in the spooky mood :)

Books

Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
It's Poe-inspired and incredibly eerie! Also, Varen is one of my favorite book boyfriends.

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
Murdering ghost. Ghost-hunting teenager. With a knife. And plenty of snark.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by April Genevieve Tucholke
Modern-day gothic including a small town, an old manor, haunted mines, and a boy who is not what he seems.

The Shining, by Stephen King
I don't think this one needs any introduction. But the book scared me even more than the movie. I think the nest of wasps and those hedge animals in the  labyrinth were some of the creepiest parts.

Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig
Great mixture of gross and psychological horror. Miriam Black is one tough cookie.

I've highlighted many of these before but I just can't help myself when it comes to a great creepy or eerie story...

Movies

The Nightmare Before Christmas (duh)
This one is a classic. And you can watch it on both Halloween and Christmas! The music is so beautiful and I just love Tim Burton's style. I also wanted to include Corpse Bride on this list but since Sleepy Hollow is another Burton movie, I thought that'd be a bit overkill.

The Lost Boys
Sleep all day. Party all night. It's good to be a vampire! It has music by Bauhaus. It's funny. It has young Kiefer Sutherland. It has the Frog Brothers who steal holy water from a baptism to fight off evil vamps (as seen above). This movie may be two years older than me but it's pretty awesome.

photo found here

American Horror Story
I've seen Murderhouse, Asylum, what's out for Freak Show so far and the first few episodes of Coven. So far, I like Murderhouse and Asylum best. And I was definitely plenty freaked out during both of them! Mostly though I just think the actors and the storytelling are amazing. I also love how each season is completely independent from the others but since you've got part of the same cast, you automatically draw comparisons between the different characters an actor has played.

Donnie Darko
This one's a classic. It's not just eerie, it actually features Halloween. And the idea of costumes. And time travel. Sleepwalking. The end of the world. I really need to watch it again.

Sleepy Hollow
Great mixture of creepy and funny. I just love seeing Johnny Depp faint in this one and bumble his way through Ichabod Crane's investigations XD When I read the novella this is actually based on, I was really disappointed. The movie is so much better.


So what do you guys think of my picks? Have you seen/read any of them? I'm also curious about your picks so that I can discover more creepy reads and movies :) Anything that makes me feel like this on Halloween would be great:

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop (Int)!

Hey everyone and welcome to my stop on the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop! Though it's not widely celebrated in my part of the world, I love Halloween and all it entails! I love the pumpkins and the candy and the creepy. And in autumn, what's better than curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee while the wind's howling outside?

You don't have a good book to keep you company? No matter, if you're lucky you can choose one from the list below, just click them to find out more about them :) If there's nothing to your liking, you can pick another spooky read around 10$ from The Book Depository. Just enter below and make sure to read the rules! This giveaway is open to wherever The Book Depository ships for free.

Also, don't forget to check out all the other awesome blogs participating! Check the linky below :)

Rules

• Open wherever The Book Depository ships for free
• Only ONE entry per person/household
• Cheating on one entry results in disqualification. I check ALL the entries before picking.
• I will email the winner and they have 48 hours to respond. Otherwise I will pick someone new
• You must be at least 13 to enter, 18 if you choose an adult book like Blackbirds or Blood Rights
• I am not responsible for damaged packages or books lost in the mail. Once I've ordered it, it's out of my hands
• No preorders
• I will order whatever version is available to me for cheap, so covers may vary

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers Of Books I've Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

So this week is about favorite covers of books we've read... and it's soooo hard to choose!!! So much pretty! I'm sure I will forget something totally obvious and want to bash my head into the wall because of it. Ahem. Anyway, here goes in no particular order...




I imagine Varen to look just like that. I love that the models wear clothes the characters wear in the book. And I love all the writing on the image - it hints at Varen's mysterious notebooks.
As for Fragile Eternity, the butterfly looks just that - fragile. Frozen. I also adore the font! And it was one of my favorite books in the seris :)


Black City was a book I wanted to read for a whole year before it came out. The wait was agonizing. I love that shatteredrose, the font, the colors, the city in the backdrop. It's perfect.
Throne of Glass - so badass! The clothes. The hair. The daggers!! The colors and font. The UK cover is just so much better than the US one.


Masque's cover is even more beautiful in person because the paper has a shimmer to it that isn't visible on the screen. The colors, dress, and parasol fit perfectly. I love it!
Dearly, Departed is another parasol cover I love. The colors are perfect and again, it fits the actual content. I also adore the font!


Splintered's cover is just so vibrant!!! The colors are even deeper when you see them for real, and I love how there are so many details you only start to notice as you read the actual story.
With Chantress, the combination of the colors, her hood, the font, the tag line, and the thing she's holding in her hand intrigued me.


I have very mixed feelings about hte Fallen series, but I love the covers. Torment is my favorite. It looks eternally cold and mournful and you can just see the inner turmoil of the girl. It's stunning in its simplicity.
Something Strange and Deadly is another one you have to see in person because it shimmers so prettily! The model looks really close to how I imagined Eleanor and I think the detail of the cogs and wheels in the background is awesome.

Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
Fragile Eternity, by Melissa Marr
Black City, by Elizabeth Richards
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
Masque of the Red Death, by Beathany Griffin
Dearly, Departed, by Lia Habel
Splintered, by A.G. Howard
Chantress, by Amy Butler Greenfield
Torment, by Lauren Kate
Something Strange and Deadly, by Susan Dennard

This was really hard! I thought there would be less pretty dress covers and more graphically interesting ones but those are mostly covers from the TBR pile. Also, it's hard to separate my feelings of the story from those of the cover. There were many books I love whose books are pretty but just not quite awesome enough to make the list.
Anyhow, here are some runner-ups from other books I've already read:



Wither, by Lauren Destefano
In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters
The Pledge, by Kimberly Derting

With Wither, it's that the cover fits so perfectly! Also, mostly I chose it because the inner design of the book is so special and gorgeous! In the Shadow of Blackbirds was fantastic and I love that the cover photograph appears in the book, along with other copies of actual photographs from the time period the book is set in. The Pledge is so gorgeous, and what I think is special about it is that the word is juxtaposed on the image again and the texture is different from the rest of the cover. You feel the words when you trace them.


Oof. Alrighty, what do you guys think of my choices? Anything that is glaringly absent? And please leave your links, I can't wait to see what covers you chose and find new things to drool over ;)

Top Ten Tuesday: books I recommend the most

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

This week's topic asks the impossibility of me to choose the top ten books I recommend the most

Like seriously how should I choose?! I think sometimes I'll have to resort to just giving you authors. I'll also try to focus on books that maybe not everyone has already read and aren't that well-known. However, I'm currently lying propped up in bed with a fever so I might not be fully coherent...

1. Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
   Yup, because her writing is just that beautiful. And Varen is my favorite book boyfriend. The way Creagh weaves Poe into her story is magnificent! You can check out my review here. It's the first one I ever wrote though so beware...


2. Anything by Holly Black really, but why not start with White Cat, the first book in the Curseworkers series? There you've got a type of Urban Fantasy I haven't ever seen anywhere like this. It's part noir, part fantasy, part gangster thing, and features lots of cons and twists and amazing characters and reader-heartbreak! I'd link you to my review, but I've only done book 3 so there'd be spoilers...


3. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
   I know, I said no super well-known books. But seriously just pick this one up. It's magic enclosed in paper.


4. The Replacement, by Breanna Yovanoff
   It was so great I still haven't found the right words to review it. It tore out my heart and I lost count of how many times I cried at the beauty and the sadness and how often my chest ached for Mackie.


5. Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series
   To this day my favorite fairy series ever. I read the last of the spin-off mangas today and was reminded of just how amazing her characters and world-building are!


6. The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
   Another book that will put you through the emotional wringer, but it's sooo good! It's also theoretically New Adult, even though back then it wasn't marketed as such. It's about an ex-foster-home-girl trying to make a living in San Francisco.


7. Anything by Ralf Isau, especially his Kreis der Dämmerung (Circle of the Dawn) books. I'm not sure if you can find them in English though, but he's a fairly well-known German YA, MG and adult author. I know his work's been translated into other languages... Many of his stories and characters are still with me and helped me through rough patches in my teens.


8. Generation X, by Douglas Coupland
   Simply an amazing book! What he writes about the 90s generation is still fairly applicable today, IMO.


9. Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift books, starting with A Madness of Angels (not god-like angels, they're the remnants of our voices in the telephone wires). Seriously THE best Urban Fantasy/Urban Magic series I have read. EVER.


10. Finally, I feel like I should list a classic. Hm. Maybe Virginia Woolf's Orlando? Wilkie Collins' Woman in White?

I could have listed so many more books you guys!! Neil Gaiman. Gayle Forman. The Infernal Devices. Kim Harrison. Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon trilogy. Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Ugh >.<
Have you read any of them? And what can you recommend? Link me up in the comments :)

Review: Enshadowed, by Kelly Creagh

Release date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Format: Hardcover, 429 pages

Description from the dust jacket:

Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dreamworld – a treacherous and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by nightmares of Varen’s creation, is the only one who can save him.

Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the “Poe Toaster” will make his annual homage at the legendary poet’s grave.

Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But great dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of white, is watching, challenging her for Varen’s affections. When Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.

Could Isobel’s greatest love also be her greatest adversary?

The following review is based on a copy I purchased myself.

Do not read if you haven't read Nevermore and don't want to be spoiled!!!

Review (no spoilers):

I have waited for this book for more than a year, with big expectations and not a little fear for what the novel would hold in store for Isobel and Varen – I was not disappointed on any of those accounts. Trying to review Enshadowed is difficult for me because there is just no way I can do this book justice. Anything I say will be bland compared to the experience of reading it. It made me laugh, it surprised me, it scared me, intrigued me, and it left me in pieces – as it well should.

The ending of Nevermore left Isobel in the real world while Varen was a captive in the dreamworld he helped create. Enshadowed picks up a few weeks later. Isobel has still not found a way to reach Varen but is trying to convince her parents to take her to Baltimore for a ‘university trip’ so that she can then sneak off and intercept Reynolds, aka the Poe Toaster, at Poe’s grave and make him take her to Varen. Meanwhile, she is under a lot of strain because the police, her teacher Mr Swanson, and basically the entire student body think that she has at least an idea about where Varen went. Isobel feels terrible for leaving him behind, even though she was tricked by Reynolds into doing it, and she is hell-bent of finding him and bringing him back no matter what.

However, there are signs of Varen reaching out to her in her dreams and Isobel is finding it harder and harder to distinguish between waking and sleeping, between what is real and what should not be real. Pinfeathers, one of the Nocs created by Varen, is haunting her both in he dreams and in the real world. I never thought I’d say this but I grew to love Pinfeathers. In Nevermore, he plain scared me (though during the re-read I learned to appreciate his sense of humor) but the Pinfeathers in Enshadowed is changed, and Isobel can no longer be sure about who is friend and who is foe. The connection between Pinfeathers and Varen is one I found very fascinating, as are the parallels between Varen and Poe and their relations to the dreamworld and to the veiled female figure who lured them there and whom I cannot really talk about without spoilers.

Isobel is a very strong heroine, refusing to give up even as everyone around her, in the know or not, tells her to turn her back on Varen and get on with her life, lies to her, or otherwise tries to hinder her. Comparing her to the spoilt cheerleader she was at the beginning of Nevermore, she has undergone incredible growth! And she does not wallow in self-pity, even though she has reason enough to do it.

Also the minor characters gain a lot more depth in the sequel: Isobel’s family plays an important role, we get to know Gwen better and there is also some light shed on Varen’s parents and his past in general. I’m still not sure I have figured out how it’s all connected but I have theories ;) Kelly Creagh definitely keeps the reader guessing, and I loved that!

Of course what I loved most of all was the wonderful, rich and lyrical prose. Not once does Creagh resort to a clichéd description; instead, she comes up with wonderful new similes and metaphors that fit her story perfectly. She creates moods and scenes that will pull the reader right into the story, at her mercy to be awed or terrified. Poe’s writing is a phantom haunting the story, woven through it in an unobtrusive yet recognizable way to those who know his stories and poetry. And it’s not just random phrases, quotes or allusions – it’s the deeper themes, the places, the names… I could write an essay just on intertextuality in this series.

All in all, this is a wonderfully crafted, dark read full of mystery and its very own brand of magic, both in the story and in the words Creagh uses to tell it. It will make you laugh and cry and shake your fist at the injustice of the world, and like the notes of a certain lullaby, it will haunt your mind for a long time to come.

I could rhapsodize on forevermore but this is a novel you just have to read for yourself to feel its full effect. I can’t wait for the conclusion of this trilogy!

P.S.: And yet I feel I should ramble on because this is too short to possibly do the story justice… maybe I’ll edit it at a later point. My brain is still too bedazzled but I had to get this on the page while still ‘under the influence’, so to speak.

Have you read Enshadowed? What were your thoughts? Predictions? Fears? Favorite bits? Let me know in the comments :)

Teaser Tuesday: Nevermore

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

add it on goodreads

I'm still not quite finished with my re-reading of Nevermore to prepare for Enshadowed, so I'm giving you a teaser from here this week. You can read my review here.

I am shamelessly extending the two sentences thing this time...

"Read me something?" She heard herself say, as though someone else was speaking through her.
He hesitated. Then, after a moment, she felt him slide nearer, causing every one of her senses to become amplified. His shoulder brushed against hers, igniting a tremble that ran through the length of her, and she tried to hide her shaking hands by gripping the sides of the book. He began turning pages once more. She could feel the movement of each sheet with her entire frame, fist as it lifted, then as it settled on the other side.
At last he stopped, and she stared down at the printed column of words, unable to comprehend a single one. His hand, warm and steady, wound its way around hers, wrapping it like a spider would its prey. She surrendered it to him, unable to watch even as his thumb traced the place, just above her knuckles, where he had once written his number in deep violet. Isobel ceased to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest, her thoughts shattering into senseless fragments. All the while, her eyes remained trained and unblinking on the open page. [...]
"Ulalume," he began, and the word itself, which he'd pronounced "You-la-loom," flowed from him like a string of notes. [Creagh, page 290-291]

 *Sigh* I love Varen Nethers. I could have chosen so so many bits and pieces of this book. He is the guy I always wished I'd meet but never did. And to have a guy with his dark intensity settle beside me and read to me? Woah... But enough of my non-existent love-life :P

What are you reading and teasing us with this Tuesday? Leave a link in your comment :)

Review: Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh

From the back of the book:

Some nightmares can follow you into realiy. Even when they’re not your own.

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her, either. But soon Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Can she save Varen from the madness taking hold of him? Or will they both be consumed by the shadows of his nightmares?

Published August 31, 2010 by Atheneum

Hardcover, 543 pages

Review:

I’m going to admit that my review won’t be unbiased, since I absolutely loved this novel. And not only because of the gorgeous cover. Finally, finally something different! Not that I don’t love reading about vampires, werewolves, fairies and shapeshifters – but it’s nice to be confronted with something new every once in a while. Yes, there are strange, terrifying creatures and occurrences here, but they are of Kelly Creagh’s own design. There is another world, but until the very end it is hard to say in what connection it stands to our own. Is it a different realm? Is it based on Varen’s mind alone, or on the minds of others like him? Is it a dream space? How is it connected to E. A. Poe, whose writings and imagination permeate the entire novel? And who is Reynolds, the ambivalent figure who seems to alternately help and hinder Isobel in her quest to both help Varen and get her own life back on track?

Another thing that I liked is that for once, the main female character is not an outcast but the head cheerleader. I was a bit doubtful about whether the author could make me like Isobel and empathize with her (I’m definitely not the cheerleader-popular-preppy-type of girl), but she did. Yes, Isobel’s got a knack for pink stuff, and she’s rather superficial at the beginning. However, she changes and develops over the course of the novel as her world begins to unravel all around her. Ever since she was paired with Varen and he wrote his number on her hand in purple ink (OMG! Scribbled on by the freak! Eww!) her life has been spinning out of control. She loses her boyfriend (no big loss there, though), her place on the cheer team, her friends, the approval of her parents. She might even be losing her mind. This forces her to extend her mindset and take decisions with far-reaching consequences. She needs to be proactive and figure out what is happening – and how to stop it.

Need more convincing? The supporting characters are also great. Gwen, Isobel’s new friend, has an awesome sense of humor. She is also unforgivingly direct and doesn’t take no for an answer. She sticks with Isobel when she has no one else left, even though they barely know each other. Also Isobel’s younger brother is a great kid and it was nice to see how their relationship changes and develops. And Poe himself is also a character in the book, though he is more of a looming presence in the back of it all. An unanswered and prominent question during the whole book is: how exactly did Poe die?

Then there is Varen himself, of course. Mysterious, gloomy, composed. Wearing far too much black and chains to be in Isobel’s comfort zone. He’s no overdone goth cliché though, and he’s got a healthy sense of humor and self-irony. He’s also tortured and haunted by his own creations as he loses control over his imaginative powers. Of course, all of that makes him Isobel’s father’s and boyfriend’s kryptonite. Plus, how much and in what way Varen cares for her is anything but sure. This is no Romeo & Juliet type of story.

This novel is steeped in Poe and his tales & poems, but not in a way that makes it easy to foresee what is happening. Nevermore is always one step ahead; you’re drawn into the story but you can never guess where it’s all leading. No one really explains things to Isobel, and it’s not one of those situations where you have to bash your head on the desk because the character is just too stupid to figure out what’s going on. Much is left unsolved in the end, which makes is REALLY hard for me to wait for the sequel, which is called Enshadowed  and will be released in late August. You can also check it out on my last Waiting on Wednesday post.

All in all? One of those books which absorb you while you’re reading them and haunt your mind and your dreams while you aren’t. Kelly Creagh has great talent for creating atmosphere and making the characters and places appear real to you. The novel also made me buy a big, fancy hardcover edition of Poe’s tales and poems. If you already know some Poe it will enhance your reading, but it’s not absolutely necessary to get the story.

I hope I could give you a notion of the book without being spoilery, and that I got some of you intrigued so that you’ll read it. This book deserves way more recognition than I think it has gotten so far!

Have you read Nevermore? What did you think of it?

Waiting on Wednesday: Enshadowed, by Kelly Creagh

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week, I was deliberating between picking Rachel Vincent's Before I Wake and Kelly Creagh's Enshadowed. But I thought that since BIW is releasing so soon and is probably covered more often, I'll go with the latter. It's the sequel to Nevermore, a book I loved so much the wait for the sequel was really killing me for those first few weeks.

Kelly Creagh - Enshadowed (Nevermore #2)

goodreads

Publication date: August 2012
Publisher: Athenum
Kelly Creagh's website: http://www.kellycreagh.com/

From goodreads:
[From the back of the ARC] Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dream world -- a treacherous and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by the nightmares of Varen's creation, is the only one who can save him.
Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the "Poe Toaster" will make his annual homage at the legendary poet's grave.
Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But even greater dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of white, is watching, challenging her for Varen's affections. When Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.

The ending of Nevermore left me heartbroken. Seriously. I was pining to read more of Varen and Isobel! This book made me buy a jacket so I could decorate it like Varen's. Also, the big, hardcover B&N edition of the collected stories and poems of E. A. Poe. The prose of Nevermore was just sooo beautiful, I can't wait to get more of it. I'm curious to find out what exactly is going on with Varen, how he is connected to Poe and Reynolds. Also, Pinfeathers! Unique, creepy character but I was intrigued.
How will Isobel deal with the changes in her life, and what she will do to try and get Varen back? Although the description makes it sound like getting him back might only be the first step of many...
I'm anxious. On the one hand, I can't wait to read it - but on the other hand I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which there is a sort-of-happy ending for Varen and Isobel...

Have you read Nevermore (or been lucky enough to get an Enshadowed ARC) ? What books can you not wait to get your hands on? Comments make me happy :)