Welcome! I'm Riv Re, teenager and aspiring author. I post Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Tuesdays are for book reviews; Thursdays are for a weekly meme called "Character Dolls," which showcases character depictions I made online; and on Sundays I just wing it.
This blog is for my writing misadventures, my reviews, ramblings, and rants. My favorite genre is fantasy, so expect a lot of the unusual.

Warning: I've got an awful sense of humor. Don't blame me if you keel up and die from reading the jokes I crack.
Notice: I hold no responsibility for any deaths caused by previously mentioned jokes.

Enjoy and happy reading!

Current Book Showcase-Starling by Lesley Livingston Trailer!
(What's Book Showcase? Click HERE!)

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Contest Linky

Hey Blogger Buds,
I know I posted CCT today, but there's ANOTHER awesome contest going on over at Carol's Prints. Carolina is giving away more ARCs in her "Will She Ever Stop Giving Away ARCs" contest.
Linkage: http://carol-in-print.blogspot.com/2010/09/will-she-ever-stop-giving-away-arcs.html
Contest Ends October 4th
Prizes: Nightshade, Pegasus, Nightshade City, I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend, The Witches' Kitchen

Don't forget to add my name in the referral box! You get a +1 if you do!

Peace,
RR

Character Cast Tuesday (5)

Character Cast Tuesday is a meme hosted by me, in which every Tuesday you post an actor that you'd choose to play various characters, if your book were to be made into a movie.
Today I'm casting Commander Marcus. Like the unipeg, I got him from Legend of the Seeker. Commander Marcus is the Megapeg commander (surprise!). He's horrendous looking. To be portrayed on screen, he'd need a lot of make-up. Because it would be difficult to explain him out of context, this is how he's explained in the book. This scene happens when the vicepeg, thoroughly angry, bursts into the commander's office and starts making threats and stuff like that. The commander is hooded, but the vicepeg yanks his hood off.
Becca winced when she saw the man’s face. He was absolutely hideous. His whole face was scarred; marred by hundreds of battle wounds. His noise had broken at least four times; one of his eyelids was swollen shut over an empty socket, his mouth twisted and missing a chunk of lips. And his ears-one of them was missing completely. His bald head was covered in dark, ugly scars, writhing over his skin.
Now I'll wait as that gives you nightmares tonight.
So, as I said, I got this guy from Legend of the Seeker. He played Demmin Nass, the evil commander, there. So I have full faith in him.
 


Peace,
RR

Monday, September 27, 2010

OMG OMG OMG FOREVER COVER!!!!!


Hey Blogger Buds!
For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the cover for FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater is out!!!!
OMG OMG OMG!!!!!
She just posted it around 3 hours ago, and it's so awesome!
The whole Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy has awesome covers.
SHIVER (Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)LINGER (Wolves of Mercy Falls #2)





and....







Isn't it awesome? Time for a cover analysis...


  • It's going in to summer/fall now, so Christopher Stengel, the awesome designer, continued with the matching colors. Shiver, which took place in winter, was blue, Linger, for the spring, was green, and now Forever, which is awesome Autumn, is red!
  • In the first two books there was a blood stain over the I. I was wondering about that, since Forever has no I, and instead Christopher put it in the O, very tastefully.
  • I love the whole forest idea that's sort of framing the picture. Shiver shows mostly bare branches, and Linger shows lots of leaves. Now Forever shows something in between, as the leaves become a beautiful color outside our windows and begin to fall. Forever shows semi-bare trees.
  • Shiver depicted Sam-wolf. Linger depicted Grace-girl and what I think is Other-wolf, since Sam is human. Forever flips it around, showing us Grace-wolf and Sam-boy.
  • You can see the tension in the characters. Sam is slowly approaching Grace-wolf, and she's standing there, watching him carefully, her hackles up.
  • Red lettering! This goes without saying, but the final copy of the book is going to have red lettering, not boring black!
I'm done my squeeing now.
Oh, and you can PRE-ORDER SIGNED Forever at fountainbookstore, here.*
What do you think of Forever?

Peace,
RR

Current Music: Too freaked out to think
Current Mood: Freaked out!

PS: See my new profile image? That's for the book-y!

*If the clicky doesn't work, here it is! http://www.fountainbookstore.com/autograph-maggie

Top 5 of 2011

Hey Blogger Buds,
Well, I came up with something to write about today, as you can tell. You've probably seen a lot of posts about this, but Princess Bookie is having a big contest! Part 1 is today, wherein you post about 5 books of 2011 you're excited for.
At which point I open goodreads.com...All links go to Amazon, and all summaries from goodreads. No particular order, because I can't pick a favorite. It seems that 4/5 are from trilogies...If I reviewed any previous books in the series/author, there's a linky.

Angelfire (Angelfire, #1)Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (book 1 in the Angelfire trilogy)
Release Date: February 15
Review: None
When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.
A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.
While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Stolen Nights (Vampire Queen, #2)

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (Book 3 in the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy)
Release Date: July
Review: Linger
No other info
The Iron Queen (Iron Fey, #3)
Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel (Book 2 in the Vampire Queen trilogy)
Release Date: ???
No other info

SteelIron Queen by Julie Kagawa (Book 3 in the Iron Fey Trilogy)
Release Date: February 1
No other info

Steel by Carrie Vaughn
Release Date: March 1
Review: None
When Jill, a competitive high school fencer, goes with her family on vacation to the Bahamas, she is magically transported to an early eighteenth century pirate ship in the middle of the ocean.





Well, that was fun!
What are your top 5 for '11?

Peace,
Riv

Current Music: Love Drunk by BLG
Current Mood: Jumpy

Sunday, September 26, 2010

URGENT MESSAGE: NEW NAME

Hey Blogger Buds,
So...I have no idea what to post today, so I'm going to give you some news! My blog url is quite long, and the name unoriginal, so I'm getting a new blog name. I'm going to keep another link to direct you to it, since I haven't switched over yet, but soon this won't be Fantasy Fanatic anymore! Excited? I am!
Ready for the name?
Okay!
The new blog name is...

Riv Reads

Yay! Soooo excited! The url is rivreads.blogspot.com, but it won't work yet, as it's not in use yet! Isn't that an awesome name? The Re and the Reads are mashed up!

Are you guys excited?

Peace,
RR

Current Music: First One by Boys Like Girls
Current Mood: Excited

Friday, September 24, 2010

Fins Are Forever Cover Release!

So, as I mentioned on Wednesday, I'm helping Tera Lynn Childs reveal the cover of her second mermaid book, Fins are Forever, sequel to Forgive My Fins.
Soon, TLC is going to post a link to everyone revealing this, but I'm up in the wee hours of the morning to share the cover with you.
Okay, not really.This is an autopost set to go off at 6:30 am.

...
Ready?

...

Are you sure?

...

I'll stop messing with you.

....

Not really

....

Here it is!

...

What? You thought I was actually going to give it to you that easily.

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I guess you did.

...

I feel bad, so...

...


...


...


...

...





Isn't it GORGEOUS!?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Peace,
Riv

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Excuses and Links and Things

Hey Blogger Buds,
I won't be on the next few days, but I have an uber exciting post scheduled for Friday.
Ready?
FINS ARE FOREVER COVER!
And let me tell you, it's GORGEOUS. I hear you squeeing in your seats.
So, be up at 6:30 AM to see the post!

Now, there are several reasons I didn't post yesterday.

1) I'm very lazy and undependable. Sorry Blogger buds, I speak only truths.

2) I was plotting planning my uber awesome contest. That's a good excuse for reason #1, right.
...
Right?

3) My brother was launching his own blog. It's a going green thing, in which you take your leftover, good-quality magazines and leave them on the subway for other people to read. It's called Read and Pass, and can be found at http://rapmagazines.blogspot.com/. It's a pretty cool idea...just don't tell him I said that. If you're one of those people with a million newspapers and magazines lying around and you use the NYC subway, check it out.

Peace,
RR

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Triskaidek MM

Hey Blogger Buds,
Today I've got the Midway Mention for the Triskaidek, book 1 in the Camp Fae series, by Basil Sprig. I'm short on time, so it's just going to be a few lines, but enjoy!
Oh, and I still haven't had time to e-mail the winners, but don't worry! I will soon!


MM:
The Triskaidek started out a bit slow, for me. I had to force myself to get through the beginning. It was brilliantly plotted, but the beginning just didn't work for me. Leading among the reasons is the fact that much of it is plot-driven. But of course, that's a necessity.
The book's voice also seemed quite interesting and unique and I managed to give it a name about 50 pages in. It's told more like a story. For example, the narrator voices opinions, even though the whole thing is 3rd person limited to just Alley. It was-and continues to be-an interesting experience.
Around 75 pages in, the book picked up though, leaving me on the edge of my seat with anticipation. Now, at around 150 pages in, I'm excited for more.

****4 stars so far: very good.

The Camp Fae site is here.

Midway Mention is a mini-meme hosted by me, in which I talk about my opinion of a book halfway through. You must receive permission if you wish to use MM on your blog.

Peace,
RR

Current Music: Potential Breakup Song by Aly and AJ
Current Mood: Tired

PS: I updated the Shelfari lists, so look below and to the right for books!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Forgive My Fins WINNERS!!!

Hey Blogger Buds,
Some stuff came up, so I couldn't post yesterday, but I'm here today. Instead of listening to me yammer, maybe you took a minute of silence to remember 9/11/01?
Wow, it's been almost a decade.
Now I feel awkward moving on from that to announcing winners so maybe I'll save it for another time.
I hear your moans, even though I'm writing this long before you read it. :)

...

Well, I guess I should announce the winners already.

...

This is my first winners announcement! I'm so excited!

...

You probably just want me to get a move on it.

...

Don't worry, I will.

...

Eventually.

...

Some more stalling.

...

Wanna hear a funny joke?

...

Where does a king keep his armies?

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In his sleevies!!!

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Yeah, I hear you getting ready to kill me.

...

I'll get ready to announce the winners.

...

So, I only had 12 people entering or so, but it amounted to 25 entries, plus, as I said, one person got an extra entry. I asked you to tell me what you think of when I say "mermaid". And my favorite answer, getting an extra entry was....

...

Well to be honest i think about sirens, as in mythology mermaids who where so beautiful and had such amazing voices that they could lure a man to his death with a single note. Ah beautiful irony....if only all us females had that power :)

...

Now, on to the winners...

...

Just kidding, I need to remind you of the prizes first!

First Prize: 4 Temporary Tattoos (that look really awesome and stay on, might I add) and 4 FmF Bookmarks. You can give some away, to help me spread the word! TWO WINNERS!!!!(!!!!!!!!!!!)
Second Prize: 3 Tattoos and 3 Bookmarks. TWO WINNERS!!!!(!!!!!!!!!!!)
Third Prize: 1 Tattoo and 1 Bookmark-you get to be selfish and keep it.
(Non-Existent Grand-prize: 1 Copy of Forgive my Fins by TLC)

...

And Now I will finally announce the winners.

...

Maybe not.

...

Drumroll....

...

More drumroll....

...

Some more drumroll...

...

And the winners are...




First Place:
Natalie Aguirre!
and
Lindsey of Fictional Writer!

Second Place:
Basilsprig of Camp Fae!
and

Third Place:
Book_Girl of More Than Just a Book!

Yay! Congratulations!
I'll be e-mailing you all shortly, unless you can get to me first!
*Brings out the cake* Let's party!

If you didn't win, I'm having another contest very soon!
But shh, it's a secret

Peace,
Riv

Current Music: None
Current Mood: Hungry

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Black Cat Review

This is an auto-post. Some links may be broken.
Hey Blogger buds,
Today, we have White Cat by Holly Black.

Blurby:
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to outcon the conmen.

Review:
I heard a lot about White Cat, and I was excited to read this. It pulled me in from the beginning, though I had some problems initially. First and foremost, and I read the blurb and my first thought was "outcon the conmen"? Can you get any cheesier?
But alas, it made no difference. The book had a brilliant premise, and a like-able main character, Cassel Sharpe. When it comes to con, Cassel is brilliant. The King of Con (and awesome at alliteration!). He has faults, like any other character, and problems, but he'll always get out of a sticky situation, or someone will help him.
The book has a very bittersweet ending, with some brilliant prose.
As I said before, the premise is ingenious. There are people who can work magic with their hands, so everyone has to wear gloves....Okay, when I paraphrase, it doesn't sound that cool, but it is.
I would give it 10 stars, but the book didn't captivate me that much. Not for any particular reason, but for me, personally, it wasn't captivating. I give it 5 stars, though.

*****5 stars

Peace,
RR

Current Music:...?
Current Mood:...?

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mockingjay Review and Contest is CLOSED

Hey Blogger Buds,
Today I'm posting my MJ review. I'm going to keep the intro short, because you've heard of this book, unless you've been living under a rock. I only have a few minutes, so the review is, unfortunately, short.
My Forgive My Fins contest is now closed.


Blurby:
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.


Review-Not Spoilery:
When it comes to books that are household names-Harry Potter for instance-I can't get fully obsessed with it. Twilight never stuck with me. Harry Potter I love, but I'm not obsessed with it. Then there's the Hunger Games. I loved these books, even though I only started a few months before Mockingjay. But until recently, I didn't even know HG was so popular. It wasn't that amazing to me.
Onto my review. The beginning was kinda slow, but still very intense, with Collins' writing. She's absolutely brilliant. Then it picked up even more, and was brilliant. I felt it was reaching a point of such intensity....and then something happening, crushing me. I'm also among the people who disliked the ending. It was a bitter-sweet HEA, but still too perfect for Katniss's miserable life.
Something happened to Peeta in the Capitol and I love Peeta but...it was so cool, from an reader's POV.
I love Katniss, always. And then there's the boys. I've never been a fan of love triangles, and this was predicable. One boy was my favorite, but the way everything was written, I knew she would pick the other boy. Predictable. And she did.
Some stuff was just messed up. Near the ending, she takes a stand and does something completely...insane. What the HECK? Why did she listen to that person?


On to the spoileries. This is written white on white so no one looks at before reading the book.
First off, she chose Peeta. Duh! I love Gale, but I knew who she would pick. And when Peeta and Gale were talking latee one night in the cellar and Katniss overheard, she totally overreacted about the "survival bit."

The Capitol Hunger Games bit? Besides for the fact that it was totally out of character for Katniss, what happened in the end? There's no mention of the Games at all.
RIP Finnick. I MISS HIM! And there was no emphasis on Annie getting all depressed or anything over it.
RIP Cinna. Until the last page I was expecting Cinna to pop up. It never actually said that he was dead!
The fainting. Katniss fainted and just let everything happen! I wanted her to be more involved than fainting during war and waking up later.
What the heck? She LISTENED TO SNOW.
RIP Prim. Enough said.
And the ending. Gale just disappeared from the storyline! There were no farewells or anything, he just left Peeta and Katniss together.
Overall, it could have been better.


What are your thoughts?
SPOILERY COMMENTS!


5*

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Character Cast Tuesday (4)

Character Cast Tuesday is a meme hosted by me, in which every Tuesday you post an actor that you'd choose to play various characters, if your book were to be made into a movie.
Hey Blogger Buds,
Since you haven't had CCT for a while, I've got a mega awesome one this week. This character is a favorite of mine, to write and to read about.
So this week I'm casting Janko Son-of-None!
I love this kid. Whereas the vicepeg is the most fun to write about, Janko's just fun to write. He's cool, calm, cocky, and cute. And funny.
Janko's a lanky 16-year-old, with a mess of brown hair and a mischievous grin. He's a page in the castle, and he pretty much rules the place is well-liked. He's confident and knows his way around.
Secret: The idea for him came from a friend of mine, nicknamed Peanut Butter, who was annoyed that she's a boy, but likes that he's one of my favorites. Both are equally random and spunky and love to dance.

I spent a long time looking for the perfect actor to portray him, and once I found the kid, I spent little time debating between him and a few others. Let me introduce the (totally cute)...
Logan Lerman!
Logan is 5"8 with blue eyes and the most awesome hair ever. Look at the flippy thing it does in the front! *fans face* Logan is the perfect Janko. Logan, give me a call when you finish playing Percy Jackson (who sooooo doesn't deserve you, by the way!)
Stare at him for a bit. I've got to go.

Peace,
RR

Current Music: Perfect by Simple Plan
Current Mood: Meh

Monday, September 6, 2010

Iron Daughter Review

Hey Blogger Buds,
Today I've got my review for the Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa, the sequel to the Iron King. The final book in the trilogy, titled the Iron Queen (surprise!) comes out in February. I bought the book in Borders while I was away, and it drew me in whenever I had a spare moment. As it took me almost a month to read it, I don't have a full review. I did write a Midway Mention though, and I'll be adding on what I thought of it as a whole.
Remember, Midway Mention is a not-quite meme I made up, in which I say what I thought of a book halfway through it. You can use MM if you wish, but please let me know and link back to me.

Blurby:
Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.
Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Midway Mention:
Thus far into the book, the Iron Daughter shares the same fate as many other sequels; coming nowhere near meeting the high standards set by the previous book. To start with, the summary was wrong. Most of the summary talks about Meghan's stay in the Winter court, which ends early on. Then there are her conflicting feelings for Ash. She keeps wondering if he loves her or was playing her, but the answer is quite obvious. Wrongly emphasized summaries are one of the things that always gets on my nerves.
I really felt for Meghan when she learnt more about Ariella, Ash's  first love. Puck said something to Meghan, and it was predictable and cliche`, but she should have accepted it anyways.
The book takes some unexpected twists, forcing me to stop at an intense moment. It's been a bit predicable but very climactic. I'm excited to continue reading.
Rating So Far: *** 3 stars
Stopped At: Part 2, Chapter 13, Charles and the Redcaps, Page 183

Continued Review:
After the first half, the book took a turn for the better. It became brilliant and intense, always leaving you on the edge of your seat, glued to the pages as you waited for the rest. Though there were slow parts in the beginning, the second half was brilliant.
Characters: Meghan was strong and tough, but smart. She knew better than to charge into battle like a weakling. And she's also capable of emotions, so she's not just a hard shell. Puck comes back after his little disappearance, and he's his usual awesome, fearless self. And then we have Ash. Oh, man, Ash. He's also really awesome, except he was a bit too angsty for my taste. He was all about "I want to but I can't" and "It's my duty alone" and "I'm too much of an idiot to accept help". Okay, maybe he'd didn't say the last one, but it was implied.
Team Ash vs Puck: In terms of who I like better, I'm in love with Puck. He's sooo awesome!! As for who Meghan should pick, Team Ash. But, she already picks at the end of this book.
The ending. Oh, wow, the ending. I was sitting there for a moment, stunned. It's sooo awesome!! I love the ending, and I'm soooo excited for the next book! I was rocking back and forth moaning for a bit as I got over the aftershock. Any complaints I had about the book were obliterated with that ending.

Julie Kagawa's blog. She's totally awesome!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Updates and Another Poll

Hey Blogger Buds,
Major #bloggerfail happened to me. I realized that I can't do Monday-Wednesday-Friday posts, because I seem to have completely forgotten about CCT. #doublebloggerfail #wowineverusehashtags #weird.
So I'm changing it to Sunday-Tueday-Friday, which is a bit clumpy on the weekends, but...oh well.
I'm going to have some extra time this week, as it's Labor Day, and I'll hopefully be able to post most of this week. I won't be able to on Thursday and Friday though, but I'll put up a preset post. Here's my schedule of the week.
Sunday-Poll
Monday-Iron Daughter Review
Tuesday-CCT
Wednesday-Another Review and I'm going to close my FMF Contest!
Thursday-Black Cat review (preset)
Saturday-Surprise!

Now, onto my aforementioned poll. I forgot one question on my other poll, so here it is!
If you can't see it, go here.



Peace,
RR

Current Music: Build God, Then We'll Talk by Panic! At The Disco
Current Mood: Sneezy...again

Friday, September 3, 2010

I Need YOUR Opinion!

Hey Blogger buds,
I'm here, as scheduled! Now, as I mentioned, I'm hosting a nice big contest soon! (Yay!) So I want your opinions for it!
If the form below doesn't work, you can fill it out here.
And don't forget that I've got another contest still running! It's closing soon so enter quick!



Thanks for the help!

Peace,
RR

Current Music: Total Eclipse of the Heart, Gleed
Current Mood: Hungry

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Contest on the Horizon, and a Schedule Change

Hey Blogger Buds,
I've got some good news and some bad news.
Which one do you want first? I'll start with bad news, so at least you'll leave happy.
Wait, I have a bit of good news first! I finally got Mockingjay yesterday!
Since school is starting, I have less free time to devote to blogging. Because of this, I can no longer post daily.
I will now post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
And now for the good news, as you're weeping in your chair.
I'm approaching my 100th post, my birthday, and my 6 month blogiversary! In honor of this, I'm going to have a massive contest! It's still in the works, but if you're not a follower, make sure you follow now for the bonus points!
And because I'm having a contest soon, I'll soon be ending my followers contest, even though I got very few entries! Linky below!

Peace,
RR

Current Music: Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
Current Mood: Sad About School