A Couple of Series That Are The Most Fun To Read!!

I like funny books. Anything that makes me laugh is up for grabs! If you like funny books, here are my most favorite 'laughs:'

1. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels.

• These books are loads of laughs. I have a crazy family that is so like the Stephanie's family that I can't help but associate with these novels. Definitely has women humor. Anything by this author is just fun to read! 

2. Gena Showalter's Tales of an ExtraOrdinary Girl.

• Great story line, and this author is an amazing writer! You will laugh a lot and will thoroughly enjoy the characters and the situations they get into!

Great Inspirational Books When You're Having a Bad Day!

I had a pretty bad day yesterday. :( But I hate staying mad and upset, so I usually try to make myself feel better by reading something more...touching and uplifting. So, this is my favorite inspirational site that sells "feel-better" books. You can check them out by selecting the link below. They seem to help me from staying too mad or frustrated on my bad days.
Go Here!

Great Books to Read with Your Kids!

I love reading with my son, but we had lots of problems finding a book we could both enjoy. So, I decided that I was going to find books a little above his reading level, so he could find a love for them before he had to read these books in school, and it expands their vocabulary and interest in harder books. So these are our favorite books to read together:

1. A Wrinkle in Time (series is called the Time Quintet)

• Its a classic, and quite hard for the child to read on their own, due to the jargon from previous years that kids may not understand, but as the main characters are kids, its easy to bond with the characters.

2. The Inkheart trilogy.

• I watched the movie and wondered if the books were as good as the movie, so I bought the first book to see if my son liked it. It is very hard reading by themselves, and so a parent or an older child should read this with anyone under 8. But very detailed and easy to understand characters.

3. Percy Jackson and The Olympians.

• A fun book to read together but also very difficult  for a child to read by themselves, as it is set for a young teen age group, but the lessons taught in the novels are great to share with your kid!

4. How to Train Your Dragon series.

• If you want to "change-up" your reading so it isn't always a lesson (since that can get tiring), this is a great and very fun series to read. They aren't hard for a kid to remember the details, so you can take and leave these books to read later as you want. I use them for the days that my son won't listen and can't concentrate on anything complicated.

5. The Spiderwick Chronicles.

• These are fun and not too complicated novels. They are colorfully written to keep a kid's attention span and since the characters are kids, the characters are easy to associate with.

10 Favorite Paranormal Romance Series

**Sorry, this is a long list, but I couldn't list these as a "5 Faves" because many of them tied in my list of "5," and so I knew it would have to be a longer post**

1. Christine Feehan's Carpathian series.

• A "vampire" novel (sort of). I like this series because it is a long one, with lots of twists and turns in the plot. You are constantly getting 'updates' on your favorite characters, so you don't have to leave characters behind from book to book. 

2. Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter/Dream Walker series.

• Lots of different paranormal characters (werewolves, vampires, etc), and is a long series. Also a series where you get 'updates' on characters, or they show up in secondary roles in many of the books. There is a lot of variety in this series. Don't miss out on the anthologies or short stories, as they end up playing a part for a later novel. 

3. Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.

• Amazing character personalities. Amazing author personality! I laugh so much through these books. The books are just FUN to read! Each book is vastly different from the previous novel, and opens more and more questions and plot turns. Also a series that you don't have to give up on a character because they are all intertwined. 

4. Christine Feehan's Ghostwalkers series.

• Not your typical paranormal romance (the characters are part of experiments that change them). An unforgettable plot for each novel, but the plot twists and turns so much that you can never get bored with this series, even if you're rereading it!

5. Marjorie M. Liu's Dirk and Steele series.

• Interesting characters! The characters have such a variety of personalities you fall in love with the characters, plus you continue to have other characters pop up in later novels, so you don't have to give up any of your characters. Amazing imagination with the different paranormal species in this series. Don't miss out on the anthologies for this series either!

6. Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. 

• The imagination the author put into these books is amazing. Such colorful and interesting characters, plus the author makes you laugh often through the novels. I often find myself thinking that I would've said the exact same thing in the character's place. Also a longer series, and you don't have to give up your characters.

7. Lynn Viehl's Darkyn series. 

• The author's style of writing makes these an interesting and fast read. The characters are fun and realistic, and so are the problems they face. The novels offer a very unique explanation for the character's "vampirism." Plus, the author creates a secondary series that plays off of the Darkyn, called the Kyndred (also a stellar read).

8. Christine Warren's The Others series.

• Very unique series with believable and easy to relate to characters. Easy reads, not so easy to find tho, as many of her stories are only available on her website as eBooks (or if you can find an old anthology the story was originally published), but some of the eBooks are getting rewritten into full-length novels and published, and the novels/short stores are worth the effort to find. 

9. Lynsay Sands Argeneau novels. 

• I've always liked Atlantis and kind of always thought that they were an advanced civilization or some such, and this series plays off of that, so its a nice read. Also a great take on feeding, and each character is unique and a colorful and fun individual. The characters are so easy to relate to, you almost wish some of them were real people. :)

10. Caris Roane's Guardians of Ascension series.

• This is a "newer" series than the others I have listed above, but is an amazing series so far. I have great hopes for this series, and hope it continues for a long time. The idea of ascension that the author gives is unique but very believable. Its an easy read, tho a good amount of pages. Don't be afraid tho! Everything happens so fast in the book that you can't get bored. I could barely manage to put the books down once I started reading them!

***Note***

Many of the series listed above have their novels listed in reading order on their websites (or a booksellers). If you want a list of them for yourself, or cannot find the reading order (some only list chronological order), email me, and I will post the list for you! 

Book Club for Dog Owners!

If you have a dog, you need to get these books! They are amazing. My dog has allergies and is a klutz, so I was just looking for a first aid book, but I found this one with a whole bunch of other cool books! Plus its a book club, so I get more books! Sweet!! Here's the site: Go Here!

5 Favorite Fantasy Series

1. The Symphony of Ages by Elizabeth Haydon

• If you like music and emotional plot lines, this is a must-read series. One of my all time favorite series ever. The characters are easy to connect with. Even though I read this book every year, I am still surprised how quickly I finish the books.

2. The Wayfarer's Redemption by Sara Douglass

• This series has complex characters and twisting plot lines. You love and hate the characters equally and are constantly changing your opinion on the characters throughout a novel. Its a VERY complex series that has so many twists and turns that it feels like one big puzzle every time I read it. Amazing!

3. The Sun Sword by Michelle West

• This series is a surprise every time you read or reread the series. I am still finding parts I missed or overlooked the last time I read them. They are the most detailed novels that I have ever read. You feel like you are right there with the characters. The characters are so detailed that you can't help but feel strongly towards them. 

4. The Bridge of D'Arnath by Carol Berg

• This series will tug on your heart strings. The characters are so vivid that you get emotionally tangled. Dreams,  loves, hate, every emotion is portrayed in all its facets. A roller coaster of a series. I read it yearly.

5. The Sundered Series by Michelle Sagara West

• I stumbled upon this series by accident, and I am sooo glad I did. This is a classic good versus evil series with an unexpected twist. Love conquers and all that, but in ways I had never conceived of until I read this book. You can't help but be touched and love the characters for both their strengths and their weaknesses. The author is the same as The Sun Sword (see #3), but the writing styles are completely different.

5 Books To Teach Your Boy to LOVE Reading!

As an avid reader, when my son didn't love books the way I did, I started to worry. I wondered what book or books I could get him to read that would ignite a love of reading. I asked my friends, and tried them for my son. Now, I cannot get him away from books. These were the delightful books and the reason my son said he LOVED them:

1. The Adventures of Captain Underpants (entire series, they're all GREAT).
By Dav Pilkey

• This series is about two boys who play practical jokes and write comics about Captain Underpants. I can still hear my son laughing when he reads them. Try these novels first! They were the first I gave my son, and he still reads them weekly.

2. Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (entire series).
By Dav Pilkey

• This is a series about a young mouse and his robot. The titles are cute and a play on words. If your son likes space and silly monsters, these books are a must!

3. Stink Series
By Megan McDonald

• A series that is easy to read, and very interesting. It is creatively illustrated, so it makes an intereting read.

4. Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger
By Kevin Bolger

• This book is just hilarious. The first time we tried reading it together, I had to make my son read it to me, cause I was laughing too hard. Lots of pictures, and almost all the characters have really silly names.

5. Goosebumps Horrorland/Goosebumps
By R.L. Stine

• I loved reading these books as a kid, so I thought I'd try them with mine, but he was still too young to get into the older Goosebumps. So when I was at a bookstore around Halloween, they had a display of the Goosebumps Horrorland. I bought one and had to go back for others pretty quickly. As far as I can tell, these books are rewritten for younger readers, so they're not as "scary" for younger kids. I read the older Goosebumps with my son until he was old enough to read them on his own.

Thanks for checking my blog out! I'm just starting out, but I'll soon be rolling out some recommendations! Let me know if you would like any specific requests!