The Best of 2011 Giveaway Hop was hosted by Kathy at I Am a Reader, Not a Writer.

Thank you all so much for entering - this giveaway received 1,265 entries (easily tallied through the handy dandy Rafflecopter widget). It was my first time using Rafflecopter and so far it seems good even though I was so against it before so I may be using it more often. 

Onto the moment you all are waiting for…the WINNERS!

The U.S. winner is…

Venus M.!

The international winner is…

Dani (dani.67le)!

Congratulations to you both!

You each get to choose two books from the following:

I have emailed you both. Please respond to my email within 48 hours with your two book choices and your mailing information.

Thank you all for participating. Stay tuned for more reviews and another giveaway towards the end of the month!

These stats are really for me…I’m not sure how interested you all will be in my progress, but I like to keep a record. And this year, I can add my reading challenge stats to it!

First, it was pretty nifty that Goodreads kept track of how many books I read this year. Since I was participating in a 100+ Reading Challenge already, I set my goal on Goodreads to 100. I reached that goal in September so I set it to 150 books but I couldn’t quite make that. And since I had already reached my original goal, I didn’t feel bad about adjusting my goal:

Yeah, I’m a bit confused too. 133 of 132? Well, here’s what I can tell you. According to my own records I read 131 books this year. I think Goodreads has an extra because of a book I maybe read twice in one year, but I couldn’t figure out where the discrepancy was. Now, the 133? That’s Goodreads’ problem. No clue there!

Goodreads also has some other nifty stats like the books I read and how many I gave 5 star ratings to and so on. I can also toggle between the number of pages I read and the publication dates of each book I read.

Yeah, there are some books there at the bottom with no stars. Do not fear! That’s just because I’ve either already written the reviews and not posted them at all or because I’ve posted the reviews on my blog and just haven’t gotten around to getting them on Goodreads. I like to stagger them. Also, I like how Goodreads has that nice pie chart there. I just wish it was clickable so I could make it bigger. I’m considering adding books I read to “genre” shelves (paranormal, historical fiction, etc.) in 2012 so I can see how much I read of each genre as well as what challenges the books are a part of.

2011 was my first year participating in reading challenges and it was a really positive experience. It allowed me to push myself and get a taste of a lot of books I normally would not have read (like zombie books which could never be anything but scary and gross, but now I can’t get enough of them!). I participated in five challenges and completed three of them. Not too shabby.

I participated in the 100+ Reading Challenge with total of 131 books, meeting my original goal of 100 books.

I participated in the 2011 E-Book Challenge with a goal of 100 books but only made it to 70.

I participated in the Zombies! Satisfy Your Undying Hunger challenge - reading my first zombie books EVER and loving them. I completed my goal of reading ten of these books, going one further with 11.

I participated in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, reaching my goal of 20 books.

And finally, I participated in the Full Steampunk Ahead! Challenge, not quite reaching my goal of ten books, with only 8 read, but I do intend to read a lot more in this genre because I love it!

So that’s all folks. If you have seen any 2012 reading challenges for zombies or steampunk books or anything else interesting, let me know. You can see which challenges I’m already participating in next year on the right sidebar.

See you in 2012!

I received a RAK from Barbara at Basia’s Bookshelf - she sent me Dearly, Departed ahhhh! :-D

The lovely Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile was nice enough to send me Prized by Caragh M. O’Brien. ♥

Cat from Cat’s Thoughts returned the RAK goodness with dancergirl by Carol Tanzman. Thanks bunches!

Thank you to Lethea (@Luvdaylilies) for Siren’s Call: A Dark Tides Novel by Devyn Quinn!

Thank you SO much!

I sent out 5 RAKs this month.

I sent The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow to Barbara at Basia’s Bookshelf, The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter to Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile, The Girl in the Steel Corset to Cat at Cat’s Thoughts, Possess by Gretchen McNeil to Lori at Pure Imagination, and Ruined by Paula Morris to Christie at The Fiction Enthusiast.

Alone and without any remaining family in America, sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray boards an ocean liner to London to reunite with her brother, Nathaniel. When she arrives in London, however, it is not her brother waiting for her but the strange Dark sisters, Mrs. Dark and Mrs. Black, who have proof that Nathaniel sent them. Uneasy from the start but with limited options, Tessa goes with the sisters only to be imprisoned. She soon learns the reason: she has the power to transform into other people and even to retain some of their personality, thoughts, and feelings. She had no idea this rare ability lay dormant in her and it frightens her.

Then, when she gets mixed up with a group of people who call themselves Shadowhunters, this strange dream world becomes more real to her. She learns about Downworlders; creatures including warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and demons. When she agrees to use her new found ability to assist Shadowhunters Charlotte, Henry, Will, Jem, and Jessamine, she extracts a promise from them to help her find her brother. It turns out that everything is interconnected and it leads to danger and hearbreak.

I have wanted to read Clockwork Angel for awhile, but other reading commitments have just pushed it behind. I am so glad I finally got to it. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. Tessa is a strong character many can relate to and I absolutely love Will and Jem. Even Jessamine has some redeeming qualities. I enjoyed a lot of the characters as well as the fabulous storytelling with its five points-of-view, although Tessa’s voice was the main one. It was nice to read so many perspectives and learn what different characters thought about things. There were a lot of twists that I did not see coming as well as revelations that led to more questions and set things up for the sequel.

Things to look for: There are lots of literary references, not only at the beginning of each chapter, but also in the prose that will delight the classic lover in you.

Things to keep in mind: It will suck you in. I read Clockwork Angel rather quickly and even before I finished, I had to download the next book, Clockwork Prince, to my Kindle. If it were not for trying to wrap up all the 2011 stuff and reading ARCs, I would have dived right into Clockwork Prince, but it is very high up on my list. Also, you will love Will and Jem and if you are like me, you will not be able to choose between them, though there is no reason to choose in Clockwork Angel. I will say that Jem reminds me of Remus Lupin (Harry Potter series) and Professor Lyall (The Parasol Protectorate series) because of his calm demeanor and his secret suffering. Jem is a very deep character. But will is the bad boy you really, really want.

Thing that will keep you guessing: The actual clockwork angel. Yes, it is special and it does some stuff and it used to belong to Tessa’s mother. But there is some significance to it that has not yet been revealed (I’m talking the whys and hows) and I am so curious!

I loved Clockwork Angel. I absolutely cannot wait to read Clockwork Prince! 

For readers sixteen and older who enjoy YA, steampunk, and paranormal elements. Definitely read this one!

Disconnected from her family and with qualities only Frau Geruscha, the town healer, can fathom, Rose has been given an unusual education and a healer apprenticeship designed to keep her close and safe. Still, life is relatively normal for Rose until the day she and her best friend Hildy join the rest of Hagenheim’s citizens to welcome back the duke’s two handsome sons, Wilhelm, Lord Hamlin and Lord Rupert. Rose’s world tilts when Lord Hamlin actually looks at her. Then, her work brings them in closer proximity and they become interested in each other, but there is one big problem: Lord Hamlin has been betrothed since birth to Lady Salomea. He has never met her because she is in hiding from an evil magician, Moncore (who incidentally, Lord Hamlin must defeat.

I enjoyed The Healer’s Apprentice as much as I enjoyed The Merchant’s Daughter. It is a clean, romantic, and moral tale that alternates between Rose’s and Wilhelm’s (Lord Hamlin’s) voices. Set in medieval Germany and based on the Sleeping Beauty story, I figured things out about halfway through the book (sometimes I do not read book descriptions so things can be more of a surprise).

I do enjoy the morality in Melanie Dickerson’s books and I look forward to her others.

For those fourteen and older who enjoy books based on fairy tales as well as books set in medieval times with strong Christian themes.

Thank you all for helping The Musings of ALMYBNENR reach 100 likes on the Facebook fan page! I decided to finally create a page to have as much as a presence on Facebook as I have on Twitter, especially since Google is planning to discontinue following via GFC in March 2012. Hopefully I can get a post up about that soon so you all have some more information.

Anyway, onto the winner of the signed hardcover copy of Fury by Elizabeth Miles!

drumroll….

ANGELA SANDERS!

I have sent Angela a message via Facebook. You have 48 hours to get back to me with your mailing information or a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks again! Also, I have another giveaway running right now, the Best of 2011 Giveaway Hop, so take some time to check that out!

The Best of 2011 Giveaway Hop is hosted by Kathy at I Am a Reader, Not a Writer.

The hop runs from December 27 to December 31. Any entries outside of those dates will be disqualified.

What will you win here? Well, I have chosen some of my very favorite books of 2011 that I want EVERYONE to read, but I know at least two of you will be winning and reading them! There will be two winners, one U.S. and one international. Each of you will be able to choose two books from the following (click the title to see the book description on Goodreads):

If you are an international entrant, make sure you qualify by checking if your country is on the Book Depository list!

As always, please adhere to the giveaway policy.

What a beautiful book. For children, it is colorful and fun. For adults, it is about learning something new. Most everyone is familiar with Eric Carle’s illustrations even if they have not cracked open one of his picture books. With beautiful brush strokes and painted on texture, they are truly phenomenal. Like many of Carle’s books, The Artist Who Pained a Blue Horse, teaches children about different animals through art, but in this book the animals are all the wrong colors which will astonish children and make them laugh.

As an adult who can read the writing in the back of the book, I learned that Eric Carle created this book as homage to Franz Marc, an artist born in Germany in 1880 who loved to paint animals in bright, non-traditional colors. This kind of art was not all that popular back then but Marc and artists like him formed a group that became influential in the modern and expressionist movements. Apparently Marc painted a lot of blue horses which is where the title comes from and a young Eric Carle living in Nazi Germany was shown some reproductions by a teacher that have stuck with him seventy years later.

For children four to ten and children of all ages!