Where Is Your Bookmark? (A Peek Into The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel & More Bookish Fun)

I am still reading Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven, which I featured last week, and so I thought I would share a teaser or two from the next book on my TBR pile, The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palombo. It is perfect for the fall season, I think. Just in time for Halloween.

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the wonderful Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

The first paragraph of the Prologue:

Washington Irving got it wrong. I don't know what secondhand version of Katrina Van Tassel's story he heard, but it was all wrong. Oh, he got the names right: Ichabod Crane. Brom Bones. The Headless Horesman. But he left out the important parts of the story--the parts that matter most. 

Opening of Chapter 1:

It was an early summer of my eighteenth year that my destiny arrived, and despite my fancy for premonitions he took me quite by surprise. 

My thoughts: The opening of the prologue immediately got my attention. What is Katrina Van Tassel's story then, I wondered? As for the first sentence of the first chapter, well, I have a feeling I know who she is referring to and I cannot wait to meet him myself. And what is it she means by premonitions? Ooo! This sounds like it will be good!

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A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

She knelt beside me, an arm wrapped around my shoulders. "We wait to hear what Ichabod's mother tells Giles." she said, her voice faint. "And we . . . we wait. We wait to see if he comes back."

Charlotte helped me to the daybed so I might lie down, and went to fix me some more skullcap tea. The whole while, all I could hear were her last few words. 

We wait. We wait to see if he comes back. 

If he comes back. 

  [56%]

My thoughts: If you are familiar with Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, you might well know what has become of Ichabod Crane (or do you?).  I can tell from these passages that Katrina is worried about Ichabod and I find myself worrying as well.


What do you think? Does this sound like a book you would be interested in reading? 

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Originally hosted by Books by Proxy, Friday Face Off is now hosted by the fabulous Lynn of  Lynn’s Book Blog. Participants are asked to feature two more more covers of the same book with the week's assigned theme, and pick a favorite. 

This week the theme is a book whose cover features eyes ~ Eyes wide shut. 

The particular book I am featuring today, Laini Taylor's Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2), has multiple covers with eyes on them as you can see.  There is a definite effort to draw attention to the eye in several of these covers.

Not all of the covers feature eyes, however.

I like the look of many of these covers, and am hard-pressed to pick a favorite. Of the covers with the eye, I think the first is my favorite. However, I am partial to a couple of the covers without eyes even more. Especially the one with the archway--I even prefer the font on that one best as it compliments the picture.

Which cover do you prefer? 

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Everyone has a favorite and then we also have something we dislike. Like a coin, there are two sides to every question. Each week, Carrie at The Butterfly Reads and Laura from Blue Eye Books ask participants to list what they like and don't like about that week's topic.

This week's topic is Favorite Book With the Most/Least Ratings

I used Goodreads to determine which books of mine fit today's theme. One of my all-time favorite books has 2,447,190 ratings, which is not too surprising given how well read it is.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

My favorite book with the least amount of ratings on the Goodreads site only has 718 ratings:

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (Why haven't you read this book?!)

What are your favorite books with the most/least ratings? 

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Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you sneak a peek at the number of views your posts have gotten? (submitted by Elizabeth @Silver's Reviews)

No. In fact, I cannot even remember the last time I looked at my number of page views. When I first began blogging over 12 years ago, I fell down the rabbit hole of blog stats, and all it brought me was stress and burn out. I came to the conclusion that paying attention to the numbers was not how I wanted to blog.

I do understand the need to be seen and heard, something that isn't quite as easy today as it was when I got my start in blogging. The book blogging community is huge now. If you are just starting out as a blogger, it can be tough. You want to build an audience and find your niche, after all. I still get a thrill with each and every comment on my blog. And I am ever so grateful to my return visitors, most of whom I consider friends.

Everyone has their own reason and purpose for blogging, as well as his or her own way of doing it. Each blogger has to do what works best for them. I got into book blogging because I wanted to have a place where I could talk about the books I read and to share my thoughts with others. I like to think of my blog as a kitchen table where everyone comes to enjoy each other's company. Hopefully you will enjoy your visit while you are here.

What about you? Do you pay attention to your blog stats?

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