31 Days to Better Blogging Challenge

Yup! This is another challenge. I feel like I might be biting off more than I can chew with challenges, so I am going to participating in this challenge but at my own pace.

This challenge is hosted by Parajunkee. The goal is to make your blog better. Each day there is a different task with tips.


Honestly, I want my blog to be better. I want it to be reader friendly and I'd like to increase my regular readers, so hopefully this will help!

A World Without Princes - Book Review

Author: Soman Chainani
Series: The School for Good and Evil #2
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Source: Purchased (at the Boston Book Festival)

Summary from Goodreads: In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected.
When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.
Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.
Soman Chainani has created a spectacular world that Newbery Medal-winning author Ann M. Martin calls, “a fairy tale like no other, complete with romance, magic, and humor that will keep you turning pages until the end.”

Rating: Did Not Finish

Review

Given how much I enjoyed book 1 (The School for Good and Evil), I was excited about reading another book set in this intriguing world. Unfortunately this book just never drew me in. At around the 50% mark, I've decided to call it quits because it was literally a chore for me to pick it up. When I did make myself pick it up, I'd read a few pages and then found myself distracted. It just wasn't doing it for me.

I was disappointed with the lack of character development. While this was a strength in the first book, it seems like there was none in the second book.

I was excited because at The Boston Book Festival, the author talked about this book's exploration of gender roles and made "A World Without Princes" seem as if  in this book the princes are literally gone. But that was not the case, I am confused by what the author was trying to do with gender roles; is he mocking them? is he trying to send the message that we need them? Ultimately, I felt like this book was un-doing all the good work of book one and I just wasn't interested anymore.

Stacking the Shelves #26 (1/10/2015)

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Purchased

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (40th anniversary edition with forward by Gregory Maguire)

2015 Discussion Challenge

I am so excited to join this challenge because one of my goals for this blog is to include more discussions.

This challenge is hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight! Sign up here.

My goal for this challenge is 1 - 12 Discussion Dabbler. 

This is a full year challenge that will have link ups and giveaways! Squee!!

Do you have any topics that you would like to see discussed on my blog?

The School for Good and Evil - Book Review

Author: Soman Chainani
Series: The School for Good and Evil #1
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Source: Purchased (at the Boston Book Festival)

Summary from Goodreads: The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?
The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

Rating: êêêê

Review

I love the concept and setting of this book. Children who are kidnapped, taught at a school to be good or evil and end up in a fairy tale? The beginning of this book does an excellent job of setting the scene and drawing you in slowly, like quicksand I didn't realize I was immersed until it was too late and I was sucked in.

The characters are extremely well developed. Sophie and Agatha (the two main characters) are amazingly well developed . The supporting characters were perfect for their roles as supporters, we knew enough about them to distinguish between them and understand them, but they never overpowered or overshadowed the main characters.When I attended Boston Book Festival and heard Soman Chainani speak about this book, I was immediately interested because he talked a lot about the idea of female villainity (and I am partial to female villains). He did a spectacular job developing this idea throughout the book.

The book moves at an excellent pace; before I knew it, it was 1 am and I was halfway through the book. I loved the classes that the students took at the school. There are a lot of thematic elements in this book as well as some stereotype bending. There were so many times that I stopped for a moment and thought to myself, "hmm that would be an interesting thing to discuss". I wish I wrote them down. I could easily see this book being used in school because it is fun and interesting to read, but has so much potential to teach.

The book is not without its flaws, there were two glaring things that stood out to me, and knocked this down from 5 stars to 4. While it is a book about friendship, I did not believe that Sophie and Agatha were best friends, however I enjoyed seeing their friendship grow. I also found the role of the adults to be somewhat questionable.

It's a middle grade fantasy fairy tale spin off, but it can easily be enjoyed by any age group. I will be starting book two ASAP!

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap

YAY! The Books 'n' Bloggers Swap is happening again! This swap is hosted by the lovely ladies at Chaotic Goddess Swaps. This is my second time participating in the swap and I am super excited to participate again.

Here is some information about the swap

The Swap Objective

Send your partner THREE books:

A book you love
A book you haven't read but are interested in
A book from your partner's wish list

Sounds fun, right?! If you're interested in getting involved, visit the Chaotic Goddess Swaps sign up page here (hurry, sign ups end Jan 12)

1 Year Blogoversary

It's officially been one year since I started Follow the Yellow Book Road!


If you have ever read a post, commented on a post, followed my blog, entered a giveaway, emailed me, tweeted or retweeted me, or supported me in some other way Thank You!

You all have welcomed me into this wonderful community of book bloggers and I love being a part of it.


When I started blogging, it was a way for me to organize my thoughts and connect with people who shared my interest in reading. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I've learned a lot.


And I've made a few friends! A special thank you goes to the following amazing people

• Aneta @ Angelic Book Reviews who posted my very first comment on this post
• Val @ The Innocent Smiley for answering my emails when I first started blogging and had no idea how to use block quotes! And for being one of my first consistent followers! 
• Monique @ Mo Books for being one of my first consistent followers and always willing to share your wisdom!
• Avery @ Avery's Designs for designing the current look of my blog and being infinitely patient with all my crazy requests.
• AJ Nuest for being the first author that ever connected with me, shared her work with me, and asked me to join her street team.
• Everyone who regularly follows and comments on my posts, Thank You!

Some of my book blogging accomplishments this year include:

• 229 total posts 
• 221 book review posts
• 135 total followers via GFC and Bloglovin
• approximately 13,000 pageviews
• 2 Book Events where I met the following authors: Sarah J Maas, Alexandra Bracken, Dawn Metcalf, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Soman Chainani, and Gregory Maguire
• My most visited post is the reveal of my blog design 

Thank you all so much for your support this year!

For those of you interested in helping me tackle one of my goals/resolutions for 2015, check out and participate in this Book BINGO Challenge!

Giveaway 

To celebrate, I am hosting a givaway!

To earn extra entries, here is a book cover challenge (if the rafflecopter chooses a book cover challenge entry as the winner, only correct answers will count)
*HINT: all covers in this challenge have been reviewed by me this year!

Prize: Any book that I have reviewed on the blog (max $20)

To see the complete list visit one of the archive pages

The Rules:

Open Internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to you

Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to reply before an alternate winner is picked

All entries must be made via Rafflecopter and are subject to verification

Follow the Yellow Book Road is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged in the mail

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank You!