My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski

My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski

Published: November 1st 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Format : Ebook
Pages: 208
Source : For review from Netgalley
Buy : Amazon | Book Depository

You know all those stories that claim fairies cry sparkle tears and elves travel by rainbow? They're lies. All lies.

Twelve-year-old Jenny has spent the last two years as an adventurer helping magical kingdoms around the universe.
But it's a thankless job, leaving her no time for school or friends. She'd almost rather take a math test than rescue yet another magical creature!

When Jenny is sent on yet another mission, she has a tough choice to make: quit and have her normal life back, or fulfill her promise and go into a battle she doesn't think she can win.

*MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*
Jenny is a twelve year old girl. And what makes her special? She's an adventurer! She runs around helping magical creatures so everyone would just get along. She's been on the business for few years, originally taking the job because it sounded like fun.

But like many times, having fun may turn to something not-so-fun at some point.

This is a quick and fun read, but probably targeted for younger audience. This book is full of adventures and action, but that's pretty much it. I'm not saying this is a bad book, it's just for younger people.

Since she's only 12, there isn't much of a romance. Though there's a little hint, but since the other person would be a.. lamb, you can't really go there, right?

This book also has the most disturbing villain ever! The creepiest clown of all times. Isn't that just awful?
I actually thought about quitting this book at that point. Everyone who's seen Stephen King's It get's me. Too traumatizing to even think about.

I would love to know if there's second book coming out some point? Oh, stupid me, maybe I visit author's homepage and check it out there, d'oh! So yeah, in spring 2013 we'll get to read the second book!
I actually can't wait for that, since there is so many things left open in the end (including the romance with a lamb)! What about her parents? Her career? Her lamb?? These are the answers I left craving for!

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Jabberwocky! :)

Anna lives near Boston, Mass. with her husband and their adorably insane black Lab.

She's represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
Her debut novel, MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE, was published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky in November 2011.

You can visit her at www.annastan.com or follower her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/annastanisz.




Goodreads | Homepage

Don't forget A Bite's Tale giveaway, open internationally!

WWW Wednesday #17

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

Only about 20 pages to go! Having some mixed feelings occasionally about this :/

What did you recently finish reading?

Forever Princess (The Princess Diaries #10) by Meg Cabot

The last book. Oh gosh. I should be crying now.

What do you think you'll read next?

Blood and Bullets (Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty-Hunter #1) by James R. Tuck

I can't wait to read this!!

Don't forget A Bite's Tale giveaway, open internationally!

Waiting on Wednesday #15

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

Expected publication June 5th 2012


I sat there and wondered again why I'd lived…

Megan is a miracle.
At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. The truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle.

In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back.

Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know who to turn to. Her entire community seems unable — or maybe unwilling — to see her as anything but Miracle Megan.

Except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own...
All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels.

This time, she may be falling too fast to be saved…

Don't forget A Bite's Tale giveaway, open internationally!

Teaser Tuesdays #12

So sorry I'm late! I just was reading Forever Princess (The Princess Diaries #10), and I couldn't do anything until I was finished!

Meme by Should Be Reading!

*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!
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"For what it's worth, I really care about Adam. A lot," Lisa finally said. Amelia looked at her over her glasses.

"It's complicated," Lisa said. "I have an obligation to Sundeep."

"I'm not going to break my brother's heart," Amelia said.
"It's up to you to tell Adam, but you ought to do it soon."

p. 15, The Beautiful Code (The Start Up #3) by Sadie Hayes

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! :)

Musing Mondays #14

Musing Mondays is hosted by Should Be Reading!

This week's musing asks…

How far along are you in your current read before you start thinking about what you’ll read next?

That depends of the book I'm currently reading. Meaning, if it's really good, I don't think about any other book. Or if I think about the next read, it's usually the next book in the series.
I usually get so obsessed with a good book that I don't have time to think of any other books! :) After I've finished that book, I can think about next one.

This is probably the main reason why I read only one book at a time. I don't have to time to think about other books :)

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your answer in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Bookish Ramblings: What Bloggers Hate The Most a.k.a Dos and Don'ts for Authors

I just have to write a little about this subject, original post by Vicky!
Though I'm not on Twitter, so I won't say anything about that, just some rambling about the subject.

How not to behave on the Internet and how to approach book bloggers and request reviews.

I don't have much to say about the whole How to behave on the Internet- subject.

Of course I'm also aware about the whole war- situation between authors and reviewers and it's pretty nasty.

I don't like when someone's mean just because they can, no matter author or reviewer. Or belittling anyone.

I've read many posts about the situation and I was honestly surprised to even see this kind of thing going on.

And then to the whole subject of How to approach bloggers and request book reviews. I'm not an expert, these are just some pet peeves I've gathered on my short book blogging "career".

Requesting book review without reading my review policy

This is probably the biggest problem for me. And why? Because I hate to say no. It may not be a big thing to an author, but it is huge for me. I feel like I'm letting people down by saying no. But I'm usually only saying no because I don't read that kind of books. Which is clearly stated on my Review Policy - page.
Of course, if it's near some genre I read, it doesn't hurt to ask. But if it's some of my big no-no's (memoirs, religious literature) it feels bad to tell the author that thanks, but no thanks.

I've been lucky to have only couple of those kind of requests, since it's always quite unpleasent to turn someone down.

Requesting book review via comments

Unlike Vicky, I haven't had review requests via Facebook. But it was quite.. weird? to have a review requests through comments. Especially when they were automatically moved to spam- folder, and I didn't notice them until way much later.

It's much easier to contact me via email, that's why I've tried to put my email address so that it's easy to find. I'd hate to miss good because of spam-folder.

Requesting book review via spam email sent to X amount of people

Of course, it takes huge amount of time to sent personal message to every blogger. And this isn't such huge problem for me. But at least hide the other receivers' email addresses.
I haven't receive many of these, and despite this pet peeve, I've said yes to this kind of review requests. So it's not absolutely no-no, but it still feels impersonal.

Requesting book review with ultimatum "you promise review, I'll send you my book"

This is related to the Review Policy, since there's clearly stated that I have last saying in this matter.

And it's really hard to tell if I'll even be able to write a review without seeing the book!
Since many times I don't even know the books name when I receive this kind of email.

There might be just the sentence mentioned earlier, "You promise me review, then I'll send you my book". This is just plain rude.

Actually, let's take that back. Since I just remembered what is RUDE. The ultimatum mentioned before I can live with, but if someone sends me an email with "You promise me a GOOD review, then I'll send you my book". Then I won't even answer to that email. That's a deal breaker. I get upset nearly never, but then I'm actually mad. That book/person will be blacklisted forever. I have memory like an elephant in some things.

Ki$$ a$$

Well, I don't mind some Ki$$A$$ing, when it's well deserved (haha). Probably everyone loves some K.A. occasionally.

But when it's a story of how beautiful my blue eyes are (no, there's no that good pic of me anywhere, and BTW, they're BROWN) and my golden hair shines like the sun (it's black..) and how well I paint houses (you have no proof!) it just makes me ignore the whole message.

And don't take this the wrong way, this isn't a hate post against authors. I've had amazing emails from amazing authors! They know my name and efficiently make their point, without threats or ultimatums :) I've met few authors who, even through emails, seem to be the nicest persons on Earth (this isn't K.A., just stating a fact).

So don't let this post scare you from emailing me! I still feel warm and fuzzy inside every time I receive review request.

TGIF at GReads! #1: Buy or Borrow?

Who’s ready for the week­end?! I know I am!

I’m intro­duc­ing a new(ish) fea­ture for Fri­days to re-cap the week’s posts & to pro­pose a ques­tion for my fol­low­ers.

Feel free to get involved by link­ing up at the bot­tom.
If not, I’d love to read your responses in the com­ments. Thanks!

This Friday's Question:

Buy or Borrow: Where do your books that you read come from? The bookstore? The library? Do you prefer to own a book, or have it on loan?

I've just noticed that my library has some pretty great selection nowadays! I found Uglies there, and Hunger Games, and Evermore, Blood Magic etc., so now I tend to borrow more books than earlier.

But as I've mentioned earlier, I do love to buy books, especially the ones I know for sure are great.
So if I borrow a book from library and love it, I have to have it, ASAP.

But then again, our library's selection is, of course, limited. And there are so many great books out there, so I can't help it, I just have to buy them. Physical copies, of course. And if I absolutely love a book I bought as a paperback, I have to buy hardcover copy of it, too.
Complicated? Or more like annoying, since I can't use all my money to books! Or I could, but stuff like food and clothes are also nice to have once in a while.

And since I'm hardly working now, I can't use all my money to books. So library it is! And occasionally I borrow books from my friends.

Waiting on Wednesday #14

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Expected publication February 7th 2012


Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old.
Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build.

His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again.
If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together.

But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable...

Don't forget A Bite's Tale giveaway, open internationally!

WWW Wednesday #16

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski
Unfortunately I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like to, so I haven't finish this yet. This is extremely funny book!

What did you recently finish reading? Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
I found this from a flea market, so I just had to read it.. Even though this wasn't on my TBR- list. Like so many other books..

What do you think you'll read next? The Beautiful Code (The Start Up #3) by Sadie Hayes
Yay! I got this from Sadie and can't wait to read it!

Don't forget A Bite's Tale giveaway, open internationally!